Patent the human heart, and prevent me from getting a physial exam from my doc because he is unable to listen to my heart without paying the patent holder first...'
Or Patent my eyes, and prevent me from getting glasses unless the glasses are made and overcharged for by the patent holder....
No... patenting pieces of the human body, the sacred temple created by each holder's mother and father, is not something which a company can patent.
They can patent the test which they have developed which diagnososes a particular condition, illness, or the potential to get that illness in the future, but they can't stop others from developing their own tests to diagnose ailments or characteristic which may lead to preventing the onset of a disease or cancer, whether hereditarily linked or not.
Even though I leve in Utah, where Myriad Genetics employs many Utahns, I must take issue with their desire to charge anyone $4000 for their BRAC1 or BRAC2 test, just because they hold the patent to the genes, and can prevent competition in this area. This goes against the very foundation of what made the USA a leader in many medical areas of research and cures. Patents were never designed to stop fair market competition, just the theft or use of technologies which were "man-made", and not naturally created.
Sure, this decision by the supreme court places all gene patents at risk of becoming invalid, but that's a precident I can get behind and support.
Let them patent what they have created, not what I, or my parents, created. 'Nuff said.
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Patent "My" Body.... I don't think so.
Or Patent my eyes, and prevent me from getting glasses unless the glasses are made and overcharged for by the patent holder....
No... patenting pieces of the human body, the sacred temple created by each holder's mother and father, is not something which a company can patent.
They can patent the test which they have developed which diagnososes a particular condition, illness, or the potential to get that illness in the future, but they can't stop others from developing their own tests to diagnose ailments or characteristic which may lead to preventing the onset of a disease or cancer, whether hereditarily linked or not.
Even though I leve in Utah, where Myriad Genetics employs many Utahns, I must take issue with their desire to charge anyone $4000 for their BRAC1 or BRAC2 test, just because they hold the patent to the genes, and can prevent competition in this area. This goes against the very foundation of what made the USA a leader in many medical areas of research and cures. Patents were never designed to stop fair market competition, just the theft or use of technologies which were "man-made", and not naturally created.
Sure, this decision by the supreme court places all gene patents at risk of becoming invalid, but that's a precident I can get behind and support.
Let them patent what they have created, not what I, or my parents, created. 'Nuff said.
Techdirt has not posted any stories submitted by Lab Spider.
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