Breast cancer genes can't be patented, federal court rules

[Liberal_in_LA]

Until today, women who wanted to know whether they had inherited a version of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes that increased their risk of breast or ovarian cancer could find out only by sending their DNA to Myriad Genetics Inc.The Salt Lake City company patented the two genes in the 1990s and invented a test to identify some of the telltale mutations.

You might be asking yourself how a company could get a patent on a gene, which isn’t a man-made invention. You wouldn’t be alone. Several medical groups have wondered that too. So have the American Civil Liberties Union and the Public Patent Foundation. Last year, they challenged those patents in a federal district court in New York.

On Monday afternoon, they won. U.S. District Judge Robert Sweet ruled that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office never should have granted the patents in the first place because the genes are “a law of nature.”

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/booster_shots/2010/03/myriad-genetics-brca1-brca2-aclu-lawsuit.html

:applause:

[yourout]

1. Cue up the SCOTUS.

This can not stand.....my god think about the lost profits!

:sarcasm:

[thecrow]

2. I don't understand...

Why would they patent the genes if they are only testing for them?
What purpose does that serve?

[marybourg]

3. From the NYT:

"Myriad sells a test costing more than $3,000 that looks for mutations in the two genes to determine if a woman is at a high risk of getting breast cancer and ovarian cancer. Plaintiffs in the case had said Myriad’s monopoly on the test, conferred by the gene patents, kept prices high and prevented women from getting a confirmatory test from another laboratory."

[LiberalFighter]

4. Who was the dumb ass sob that approved the patent in the first place?

Did the person receive any monetary kickbacks?