US Supreme Court Asked to Reconsider Gene Patents

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has asked the US Supreme Court to reconsider its decision to uphold the patent held by Myriad Genetics on two human genes associated with hereditary breast and ovarian cancers.

The lawsuit was filed by ACLU and the Public Patent Foundation on behalf of medical associations including the Association for Molecular Pathology, scientists, patients and women's health groups. It is the latest part of an ongoing battle over the validity of the patents held by Myriad Genetics. The lawsuit claims the patents are illegal and will both hamper scientific research and limit accessibility to medical care.

The ruling over the gene patents has been going back and forth since March 2010, when a district court declared the patents invalid, but was later overturned by the Court of Appeal for the Federal Circuit (CAFC). The decision was passed on to the Supreme Court, which asked the CAFC to reassess their judgement taking into consideration the Supreme Court's recent ruling against a similar patent.

The genes in question, BRCA1 and BRCA2, can be used to detect the...