The Washington Post: In a unanimous ruling with huge impact on pharmaceutical, medical and agricultural interests, the Supreme Court said that human genes cannot be patented.
The Washington Post: In a unanimous ruling with huge impact on pharmaceutical, medical and agricultural interests, the Supreme Court said that human genes cannot be patented.
The ruling was a split decision for Myriad Genetics Inc., which holds patents on genes that have been linked to breast and ovarian cancer.
Justice Clarence Thomas, writing for the court, said that merely isolating those specific genes — called BRCA1 and BRCA2 — was not worthy of a patent.
