Supreme Court Says No to Human Gene Patent

The Supreme Court ruled recently that human genes are not patentable. The court found that isolating the BRCA1  and BRCA2 gene does not constitute an “act of invention.” 

 Myriad Genetics has held the exclusive right to test for these genes ( if mutated, hugely increase the risk for breast and ovarian cancers) for the past two decades. 

The court said that naturally occurring DNA cannot be patented, however artificial genes can be......

The most direct impact  is it now opens the door for many other companies to begin testing on genes that were previously patented, and a decrease in cost due to greater competition.

Myriad Genetics has charged nearly $4,000 for the cancer causing gene testing.  The new ruling could reduce the costs and eventually decrease it to as little as $1,000. 

DNA's Biggest Asset? Middle Manament

It would appear that"junk DNA's" days are all but numbered.

Scientist have been puzzled for years by long strands of DNA that seem to have no purpose, doing noting at all. The standing opinion was that it was material from the early days of our evolution and has been "turned off".

Now after ten years of research, over 400 scientists in 32 laboratories from around the globe working on a project called Encode have announced that they have found what the "silent" DNA strands do. It seems the here to fore called "junk" DNA strands are the cell's "decision makers". These strands decide which genes are to be activated for protein production and which get turned off.

What is even more astounding is the amount of these decision maker DNA strands to specific genes! There are an average of a million for ever 23,000 genes or a ratio of apx. 50 - 1!

And even more astounding is treatments which traditionally have targeted genes. Now treatments that influence the decision makers to do the work for us.

For more, read Kent Sepkowts's article in the September 17th 2012 issue of Newsweek.

Judge Rules Genes Can't Be Patented

IO9 reports that a judge recently ruled against the pharmaceutical industry stating that a company could not patent a human gene just because they discovered it.

From the article:

• The ruling grew out of a suit brought by the ACLU and Public Patent Foundation against Myriad Genetics, Inc., which had a patent on a gene which can lead to breast cancer.
• The ruling that could invalidate patents held on almost 20 percent of the human genome. There is a long-simmering debate within the biotech and scientific communities over whether it makes sense to patent genes. At this point, most scientists agree that patents on genes retard scientific innovation.
  

complete IO9 article