This month, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled in favor of gene patents. The Myriad Genetics case involved the firm’s patents on the BRCA1 and BRCA 2 genes for predicting the risk of breast and ovarian cancer. The court ruled that the chemical structure of the isolated DNA covered by the patents was “markedly different” and has “a distinctive chemical identity and nature—from molecules that exist in nature.” This is the same view held by the US Patent Office. However, the court ruled Myriad’s patents for the process used to analyze if the genes have the mutations invalid because they only used “patent-ineligible abstract mental steps.” The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear another case involving a similar issue. Myriad charges $3,000 for the test to determine breast cancer risk.

Source: New York Times