Patents, Genes | featured news

In a Supreme Court test of whether a company can be granted a patent on the genes in the human body, a majority of the justices indicated during Monday's oral arguments that the court is likely to rule that a human gene can’t be patented. It would be one thing, several of the justices said during Monday’s oral arguments, for a company to seek a patent on a test for breast cancer that was developed by analyzing a human gene, but it would be going too far to be awarded a patent on the gene itself.

The Supreme Court will soon decide whether companies can patent human genes, a decision that could reshape the future of medical care in the United States.

In a closely watched case with huge repercussions for the biotechnology industry, a federal appeals court has held for the second time that isolated human genes are patent-eligible.