In what was to many a surprising summary judgment decision, several of Myriad Genetics' patents related to the breast cancer risk genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2, were invalidated in Federal District Court in New York State this past week. This temporarily resolves a lawsuit that I have previously mentioned on this blog here.
I say "temporarily" because the case undoubtedly will be appealed in a process that seems likely to take about a year, and I think it's a reasonable guess that this case will eventually end up in the Supreme Court because of its potentially broad implications for gene patents, patient care, and the biotechnology industry.
The lawsuit involved an impressively broad coalition of interests spanning patient groups, academic physicians, academic laboratory interests, and the ACLU among others. Here is a list of groups on the plaintiffs' and defendants' sides:
Plaintiffs
- Association for Molecular Pathology
- American College of Medical Genetics
- American Society for Clinical Pathology
- College of American Pathologists
- Haig Kazazian, M.D. (University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine)
- Arupa Ganguly, Ph.D. (Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania)
- Wendy Chung, M.D., Ph.D. (Columbia University)
- Harry Ostrer, M.D. (New York University School of Medicine)
- David Ledbetter, Ph.D. (Emory University School of Medicine)
- Stephen T. Warren, Ph.D. (Emory University School of Medicine)
- Ellen T. Matloff, M.S. (Yale Cancer Genetic Counseling Program)
- Elsa W. Reich, M.S. (New York University School of Medicine)
- Breast Cancer Action
- Boston Women's Health Book Collective dba "Our Bodies Ourselves"
- Lisbeth Ceriani
- Runi Limary
- Genae Girard
- Patrice Fortune
- Vicky Thomason
- Kathleen Raker
Defendants
- USPTO
- Myriad Genetics
- University of Utah Research Foundation
Amici Curiae Supporting the Plaintiffs
- American Medical Association
- American Society of Human Genetics
- American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
- American College of Embryology
- Medical Society of the State of New York
- March of Dimes Foundation
- Canavan Foundation
- Claire Altman Heine Foundation
- Breast Cancer Coalition
- Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition
- National Organization for Rare Disorders
- National Tay-Sachs & Allied Diseases Association
- National Women's Health Network
- Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice
- Center for Genetics and Society
- Generations Ahead
- Pro-Choice Alliance for Responsible Research
- International Center for Technology Assessment
- Indigenous People Council on Biocolonialism
- Greenpeace, Inc.
- Council for Responsible Genetics
Amici Curiae Supporting the Defendants
- BIO (Biotechnology Industry Trade Organization)
- Boston Patent Law Association
- Rosetta Genomics, Inc.
- George Mason University
- BayBio
- Celera Corporation
- Coalition for 21st Century Medicine
- Genomic Health, Inc.
- Qiagen, N.V.
- Target Discovery, Inc.
- XDx, Inc.
- Kenneth Chahine, Ph.D., J.D.
- Kevin E. Noonan, Ph.D., J.D.
Attorneys for Plaintiffs
American Civil Liberties Union
- Christopher A. Hansen, Esq.
- Aden Fine, Esq.
- Lenora M. Lapidus, Esq.
- Sandra S. Park, Esq.
Public Patent Foundation
- Daniel B. Ravicher, Esq.
Attorneys for Defendant USPTO
- Preet Bharara, US Attorney for the District of New York
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- Ross Morrison, Esq.
Attorneys for Defendants Myriad Genetics and Directors of the University of Utah Research Foundation
- Brian M. Poissant, Esq.
- Barry R. Satine, Esq.
- Laura A. Coruzzi, Esq.
It will be very interesting to see just how this plays out.
Update (April 26, 2010): We've got more coverage here, and Genetic Alliance will be presenting what should be a very interesting webinar on April 30 titled "The Myriad Gene Patent Case - What Does it Mean, and Why Does it Matter?"
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