US Supreme Court rules human genes cannot be patented The US Supreme court has ruled that human genes cannot be patented. THE US Supreme Court says companies cannot patent human genes, a decision that could profoundly affect the medical and biotechnology industries. The high court's unanimous judgment reverses three decades of patent awards by government officials. It throws out patents held by Salt Lake City-based Myriad Genetics on an increasingly popular breast cancer test brought into the public eye recently by actress Angelina Jolie's revelation that she had a double mastectomy because of one of the genes involved in this case. Justice Clarence Thomas, who wrote the court's decision, said that Myriad's assertion - that the DNA it isolated from the body for its proprietary breast and ovarian cancer tests were patentable - had to be dismissed because it violates patent rules. The court has said that laws of nature, natural phenomena and abstract ideas are not patentable. "We hold that a naturally occurring DNA segment is a product of nature and not patent eligible merely because it has been isolated," Justice Thomas said. Patents are the legal protection that gives inventors the right to prevent others from making, using or selling a novel device, process or application. The US Patent and Trademark Office has been awarding patents on human genes for almost 30 years, but opponents of Myriad Genetics's patents on the two genes linked to increased risk of breast and ovarian cancer say such protection should not be given to something that can be found inside the human body. The company has used its patent to come up with its BRACAnalysis test, which looks for mutations on the breast cancer predisposition gene, or BRCA. Those mutations are associated with much greater risks of breast and ovarian cancer. Women with a faulty gene have a three to seven times greater risk of developing breast cancer and also have a higher risk of ovarian cancer. Myriad sells the only BRCA gene test. Opponents of its patents say the company can use the patents to keep other researchers from working with the BRCA gene to develop other tests. Angelina Jolie decided to have a double mastectomy after tests by Myriad Genetics showed she carried a mutation that put her odds of breast cancer close to 90 per cent. "Today, the court struck down a major barrier to patient care and medical innovation," said Sandra Park, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union Women's Rights Project. Myriad did not invent the BRCA genes and should not control them. Because of this ruling, patients will have greater access to genetic testing and scientists can engage in research on these genes without fear of being sued. Jolie revealed last month that she decided to undergo a shock double mastectomy after tests showed she carried a defective BRCA1 gene that puts her at high risk of developing breast and ovarian cancers. Her mother died of ovarian cancer and maternal grandmother also had the disease. Companies have billions of dollars of investment and years of research on the line in this case. Their advocates argue that without the ability to recoup their investment through the profits that patents bring, breakthrough scientific discoveries to combat all kinds of medical maladies wouldn't happen. But "genes and the information they encode area not patent eligible ... simply because they have been isolated from the surrounding genetic material," Justice Thomas said. In a concurring opinion, Justice Antonin Scalia said "the portion of the DNA isolated from its natural state sought to be patented is identical to that portion of the DNA in its natural state." Lisa Schlager demonstrates outside of the Supreme Court as arguments were made in a case seeking to determine whether human genes can be patented. Picture: Tom Williams A Myriad spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The court did rule that synthetically created DNA, known as cDNA, can be patented "because it is not naturally occurring," Justice Thomas said. And Justice Thomas noted there are still ways for Myriad to make money off its discovery. "Had Myriad created an innovative method of manipulating genes while searching for the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, it could possibly have sought a method patent," he said. And he noted that the case before the court did not include patents on the application of knowledge about the two genes. The case is 12-398, Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc.