Appeals Court Says (Again) That Diagnostic Tests Are Patentable

from the supreme-court-please? dept

Last year, we wrote how a bunch of doctors were quite worried about an ongoing patent lawsuit, Prometheus Laboratories v. Mayo Collaborative Services. It involved a company, Prometheus, that claimed it could patent basic medial diagnostics, and basically said no one (such as the Mayo Clinic) could diagnose patients in the same way without paying Prometheus. The whole concept was abhorrent to many doctors. Yet, as we worried, last year the appeals court (CAFC), as it has done so often, sided with the patent holders. This summer, when the Supreme Court decided Bilski, one thing it asked CAFC to do was reconsider the Prometheus case. It's now done so, and nothing much has changed. Once again, CAFC has said that basic diagnostic tests may be patentable. Many also think (probably correctly) that this is a good indication that CAFC will also reverse a lower court ruling in the Myriad Genetics case, concerning whether or not genes are patentable. If diagnostic tests are patentable, why not genes? Of course, all this really means is that sooner or later the Supreme Court is going to have to weigh in again, and hopefully it won't punt the issue like it did in Bilski.

Filed Under: cafc, diagnostic tests, genes, patents, supreme court
Companies: mayo clinic, myriad genetics, prometheus labs

Appeals Court Says Patenting Basic Medical Diagnostic Process Is Just Fine

from the yikes dept

Over the summer, we wrote about an important lawsuit under appeal at the Federal Circuit, Prometheus Laboratories v. Mayo Collaborative Services, which looked at whether or not basic medical tests could be patented -- in this case, a method of calibrating medicine dosages based on a patient's metabolic response. Doctors were pretty freaked out by this idea that you could patent a method that seemed like basic science. While a lower court agreed, the appeals court has gone the other way and said that the method is patentable. The patent holders insisted that this patent was necessary because if it didn't get the patent it "would likely have a chilling effect on future medical discovery." That, of course, is ridiculous. The idea that you need a patent on basic diagnostic procedures to have people come up with them is ridiculous. Some think that there's a decent chance the Supreme Court will take up this case as well, but until then, we've got yet another case of patents being used to actively put lives at risk by telling doctors they can't do basic diagnostic procedures without paying up.

Filed Under: basic science, medical diagnostics, patents
Companies: mayo clinic, prometheus labs

Doctors Concerned About The Patenting Of Basic Science

from the seems-like-a-pretty-serious-problem dept

Joe Mullin has another excellent article looking at an important ongoing patent lawsuit, Prometheus Laboratories v. Mayo Collaborative Services, which looks at whether or not certain medical tests can be patented. As Mullin notes, it's a situation where patent system believers find themselves diametrically opposed to doctors, who feel patents on such things are a serious problem and harming patient health. Once again, what you see is a single entity trying to block out competition in an effort to gain monopoly rents, even if people are harmed in the process by not being able to get or afford important medical tests. And the biggest concern (especially among medical professionals) is the idea that you can patent counting something that occurs in nature:

"The patents are based on observations of the laws of nature," says David Herbert, chief administrative officer for Mayo Medical Laboratories. "We chose to make a stand." Such "observational" patents increase costs, slow innovation, and worsen patient care, he says. "It doesn't allow the test to be performed close to the bedside, and there's no ability to have second opinions."

The lawsuit is in the appeals court right now -- with a current ruling that the patents aren't valid for merely observing nature, though an earlier summary judgment found the other way. Still, this isn't just some random discussion on patents and copying. Lives are at stake, and doctors are pissed off at the ridiculousness of the situation:

"Physicians have longstanding obligations to advance and share useful medical knowledge with patients and physicians." Patents on basic scientific principles "threaten to stifle innovation and raise the costs of medical treatment." And claiming exclusive rights to "scientific facts," such as the correlation that Prometheus purports to own, actually harms research and personalized medicine rather than helping it, the doctors argue.

Hopefully the court realizes how dangerous such patents are for society (beyond just being ridiculous) and rejects them.

Filed Under: doctors, patents, science
Companies: mayo clinic, prometheus labs