Michael Crichton was strongly opposed to gene patenting and included a story line in NEXT to show the absurdity of patenting genes. Now, a U.S. District Court has ruled “The patents at issue directed to ‘isolated DNA’ containing sequences found in nature are unsustainable as a mater of law and deemed unpatentable subject mater.” It seems this would overturn The United States Patent and Trademark Office “practice of granting patents on DNA sequences so long as those sequences are claimed in the form of ‘isolated DNA.’”

The case was about patents for Breast Cancer Susceptibility Genes 1 and 2. Myriad Genetics charges $3000 for each test to determine whether a patient has this susceptibility. Myriad’s enforcement of these patents has blocked others from testing for these genes.

It seems likely that Myriad Genetics will appeal this decision.