PATENTS ON BREAST CANCER GENES RULED INVALID IN PUBPAT/ACLU CASE

Date:  Mon, 2010-03-29

PATENTS ON BREAST CANCER GENES RULED INVALID IN PUBPAT/ACLU CASE

NEW YORK – March 29, 2010 –– Patents on genes associated with hereditary breast and ovarian cancer are invalid, ruled a New York federal court today. The precedent–setting ruling marks the first time a court has found patents on genes unlawful and calls into question the validity of patents now held on approximately 2,000 human genes. The ruling follows a lawsuit brought by a group of patients and scientists represented by the Public Patent Foundation (PUBPAT) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

“Today’s ruling is a victory for the free flow of ideas in scientific research,” said Chris Hansen, a staff attorney with the ACLU First Amendment Working Group. “The human genome, like the structure of blood, air or water, was discovered, not created. There is an endless amount of information on genes that begs for further discovery, and gene patents put up unacceptable barriers to the free exchange of ideas.”

The PUBPAT/ACLU lawsuit against Myriad Genetics and the University of Utah Research Foundation, which hold the patents on the BRCA genes, as well the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), charged that the challenged patents are illegal and restrict both scientific research and patients’ access to medical care, and that patents on human genes violate the First Amendment and patent law because genes are “products of nature.”

To read the full Press Release please link HERE