Opponents of biotechnology companies receiving human gene patents got a huge lift this week when the U.S. Department of Justice quietly filed a legal brief that reversed the government’s longstanding support of patenting the human genome.

 

Federal attorneys filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case involving Myriad Genetics, which had its patents to sell genetic screening for breast and ovarian cancer thrown out by a district court judge earlier this year. The Justice Department acknowledged in its filing that the decision to oppose patenting of specific DNA was “contrary to the longstanding practice” of the Patent and Trademark Office and National Institutes of Health which have supported such efforts.

 

Government lawyers also claimed the reversal would not severely impact the biotechnology industry, arguing the new position would not affect man-made manipulations of DNA, such as genetically modified crops or gene therapies.

-David Wallechinsky

 

U.S. Says Genes Should Not Be Eligible for Patents (by Andrew Pollack, New York Times)

20% of Our Genes are Already Patented by Private Companies (by David Wallechinsky, AllGov)

Federal Court Rules against Patenting Human Genes (by David Wallechinsky, AllGov)