Are Human Genes Patentable?

Efthimios Parasidis

The Supreme Court will consider the patentability of human genes when it reviews the Myriad case this term. As Bill of Health readers are likely to know, the Myriad case centers on Myriad’s patents on gene sequences for BRCA mutations that are associated with the propensity to develop breast or ovarian cancer.  Myriad does not claim ownership over the mutations as they exist in nature, but rather on isolated BRCA sequences that the company has “created”. The Myriad case will give the high Court another chance to clarify the scope of subject matter that is eligible for patent protection. The Court’s track record in this area is less than stellar.

As I have argued (here), the legal uncertainty at to the scope of patentability for claims that implicate products of nature is largely the result of the lack of a uniform framework for determining what areas are excluded from patent-eligible subject matter. More specifically, while patent law prohibits patent protection for inventions that equate to a law of nature, natural phenomenon, mental process, mathematical equation, or abstract idea (collectively referred to as the product of nature doctrine), no court has defined these terms adequately. Uncertainty is bad for business and bad for patients — the Court should seize upon this opportunity and offer clear guidance as to the contours of the product of nature doctrine.

With respect to gene sequences, the mere fact that a sequence is isolated is inconsequential.  Rather, courts should analyze the precise subject matter of the isolated gene sequence to determine if it differs substantially from its natural counterpart. I’ve created a three-part test to help make this determination:

  1. Does the isolated sequence exhibit characteristics or contain properties that are substantially different from the non-isolated sequence?
  2. Is the proximate cause of any difference between the isolated and non-isolated sequences the result of natural phenomenon that govern the properties of the sequence when isolated?
  3. Would a patent on the isolated sequence grant a property interest that extends to anything other than the isolated sequence?

If the answer to these questions is anything other than (1) yes, (2) no, (3) no, the claim must be invalidated pursuant to Section 101 of the patent act because the claim does not constitute patent-eligible subject matter. My article explains why…

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