Australian court upholds validity of gene patenting

The Federal Court of Australia ruled on Friday that isolated genes are patentable subject matter and upheld the validity of an Australian patent from Myriad Genetics Inc. (NASDAQ:MYGN) covering the breast cancer 1 early onset (BRCA1) gene. In his decision, Justice John Nicholas said isolated nucleic acids that have the same chemical composition and structure as nucleic acids naturally found in cells represent "an artificial state of affairs" and that isolated nucleic acid is the product of human intervention and thus patentable. Justice Nicholas concluded it would be "inconsistent with the purposes of the [Australian Patent] Act" to not reward a person for their "skill and effort" to isolate DNA. The Federal Court of Australia is one level below the High Court of Australia, the country's equivalent of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Nationwide advocacy group Cancer Voices Australia originally filed suit in 2010 against Myriad and Genetic Technologies Ltd. (ASX:GTG; NASDAQ:GENE), which has exclusive rights to Myriad's patents to perform diagnostic testing of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes in Australia and New Zealand. Cancer Voices Australia could not be reached as to whether it plans to appeal the ruling. ...