7 Takeaways From Supreme Court's Gene Patent Decision
The Supreme Court ruled that genes extracted from cells cannot be patented.
What does the decision mean for patients and the biotech industry? We talked to experts about some of the big takeaways:
The Court on Thursday sided with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and threw out patents held by Utah-based Myriad Genetics used in a popular but expensive breast and ovarian cancer test that detects mutations in the genes BRCA1 and BRCA2.
The test gained national attention after actress Angelina Jolie revealed that her decision to undergo a double mastectomy was the result of testing positive for one of the mutations.
This week's ruling, authored by Justice Clarence Thomas, states that naturally occurring DNA segments are not patentable.
"I think the major takeaway is that human genes as they exist in
