Politics & Government

Issue: Will S.D. Biotechs Survive High Court Ruling on Human-Gene Patents?

La Jolla-based Illumina Inc. and Carlsbad-based Life Technologies Corp. analyze an entire human genome in days—which made patenting possible.

San Diego’s biotech industry may be jeering the latest Supreme Court verdict. In a 9-0 vote announced Thursday, the court said companies can't patent parts of naturally occurring human genes, reports The Associated Press.

Last July, Bloomberg News noted:

DNA sequencing machines from San Diego-based Illumina Inc. and Carlsbad-based Life Technologies Corp. that analyze an entire human genome in days are spurring wider interest in the technology’s medical applications, such as predicting cancer risk.

Find out what's happening in Carlsbadwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The Angelina Jolie preventive mastectomy case is a prominent recent example, and AP reported: “The high court's unanimous judgment reverses three decades of patent awards by government officials. It throws out patents held by Salt Lake City-based Myriad Genetics Inc. on an increasingly popular breast cancer test brought into the public eye recently by actress Angelina Jolie's revelation that she had a double mastectomy because of one of the genes involved in this case.

Further, said AP:

Find out what's happening in Carlsbadwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Justice Clarence Thomas, who wrote the court's decision, said that Myriad’s assertion—that the DNA it isolated from the body for its proprietary breast and ovarian cancer tests were patentable—had to be dismissed because it violates patent rules. The court has said that laws of nature, natural phenomena and abstract ideas are not patentable.

So where do San Diego County biotechs go from here? Can they take the financial hit from this verdict? Or must they pivot to other research?  Share your thoughts in the comments.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here