Newsflash: ACLU Requests Supreme Court Review of Myriad's BRCA1, BRCA2 Breast Cancer Patent

Source: GenomicsLawReport Blog

On Wednesday, October 12, 2011, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) announced it would ask the Supreme Court to rule on a patent by Myriad Genetics, a genetic diagnostics company based in Salt Lake City, Utah, on "isolated" BRCA-1 and BRCA-2 genes, two genes that can have mutations linked to breast, ovarian and prostate cancers.


A recent District Court ruling on an appeal had upheld Myriad's patent on the genes themselves, while disallowing a patent on a method of testing.


According to Jaydee Hanson, a policy director for the International Centre for Technology Assessment (ICTA), more than 4,000 genes have been patented, including copies of genes that make up 20 percent of the human genome.


Further information can be found in this news article:


Wilson, Amanda. ACLU Will Take Gene Patent Case to Supreme Court. Published on Sunday, October 16, 2011 by Inter Press Service [Accessed October 18, 2011]