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Isolated genes patentable, appeals judges rule

NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Sept. 3, 2012

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A U.S. federal appeals court again has upheld as constitutional a set of patents on genes linked to two cancers.

A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit was asked to rehear arguments in the case in light of a U.S. Supreme Court decision on a separate case that restricted medical-testing patents. In its second decision issued Aug. 16 — again by a 2-1 ruling — judges said the gene patents cover compositions that are not natural products, but products of man (link).

The ruling concerns a lawsuit filed by the Assn. for Molecular Pathology against Myriad Genetics challenging the validity of Myriad’s patents on two genes — BRCA1 and BRCA2 — linked to breast and ovarian cancer. A trial court struck down the patents, but a panel of the appeals court reversed the decision in 2011. The most recent decision probably will be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, legal analysts said.

Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2012/09/03/gvbf0903.htm.

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