[IP Hot Topics Podcast] Innovation Conversations: Dr. Claire Fraser
Clinton: SCOTUS Myriad Genetics Decision 'Terrific'
Goldstein: Expect More Litigation in Wake of Myriad Gene Patent Decision
Are Human Genes Patentable? Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments in Myriad Case
Can You Patent Human Genes? ACLU Says No
Yours, Mine and Ours (not yet!): An Update on the Patentability of Human Genes -
Yours, Mine and Ours (not yet!): An Update on the Patentability of Human Genes
We previously alerted readers to the fact that the most recent data compromise of 23andMe exposed data related to Ashkenazi Jews and individuals of Chinese descent. It is reported by Ars Technica, citing TechCrunch, that...more
We previously reported on the unfortunate data breach suffered by 23andMe last month and its implications. We never imagined how horrible it could be....more
A recent enforcement action by the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) against 1Health.io—which sells “DNA Health Test Kits” to consumers for health and ancestry insights—serves as a reminder that the FTC is increasingly...more
Gene therapy aims to treat the underlying genetic cause of a disease rather than only the symptoms. It involves the delivery of properly functioning DNA into a patient’s genetic material to correct an underlying genetic...more
The investments in Advanced Medicinal Products (ATMPs) that use gene therapy, somatic cell therapy, and engineered tissues for preventing, treating, or curing human diseases probably represent the biggest innovation in the...more
The Ministry of Science and Technology of China has finally issued the draft of Implementation Rules for the Regulations of Human Genetic Resources Administration for public comments on March 21, 2022, which gives more...more
I have written about genetic testing kits before, but this subject matter is worth repeating. I find that people don’t always understand the consequences when sending a swab to a genetic testing company. Consumer Reports...more
2021 was a fascinating year in biotech, especially for legal issues. Of course, 2021, as the second year of a global pandemic, must be viewed in context with 2020....more
Last month, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 41, the Genetic Information Privacy Act (“GIPA”), a law that regulates “direct-to-consumer genetic testing companies” that handle the “genetic data” of...more
When it comes to SARS-CoV-2 infection (and resulting COVID-19), it seems our Neanderthal ancestors giveth and taketh away. Genetic material inherited from interbreeding between Neanderthals and early humans has been shown to...more
A promising new technology may make the diagnosis of cancer and genetic mutation testing as easy as performing a urinalysis as part of an annual physical exam. Cancer could be detected at its earliest stages, when treatment...more
The Fountain of Youth -- an enduring aspiration, particularly as the ravages of age reduce human faculties prior to leading inexorably to death. Reduction in sight is the human faculty that can have the greatest effect on...more
Over the past decade, genetic archeology has revealed two branches of the human family tree, one known since the 19th Century (the Neanderthals) and the other more recently discovered (the Denisovans, an Asian relative of the...more
Cancer of the appendix is a very rare form of cancer, having an incidence of 0.12 per 1,000,000 person-years (Siegel et al., 2020, Cancer statistics 2020 70:7-30). Incidence is rising (by 232% from 2000-2016 in the U.S.)...more
Svante Pääbo created the science of detecting Neanderthal DNA in archeological samples (and living humans) almost single-handedly (see Neanderthal Man: In Search of Lost Genomes). So it will come as little surprise to many...more
California’s “Genetic Information Privacy Act” (SB 980), vetoed on September 25, 2020 by Governor Gavin Newsom, would have established obligations for direct-to-consumer (“DTC”) genetic testing companies and others that...more
Chemotherapeutic drug resistance is one reason cancer remains an unsolved clinical problem despite the efforts ever since President Nixon declared his "War on Cancer" in 1971. Cancer cells, due in part to the genetic...more
Case Summary- On March 17, 2020, the Federal Circuit found that patents claiming methods of preparing an extracellular fraction of cell-free DNA that is enriched in fetal DNA were patent eligible and not invalid under 35...more
The human tendency to identify with tribes of "like" humans (related by family, place of origin, or religion, among other bases) was perverted during the Twentieth Century (and in some places remains so today) into the idea...more
Last week, Veritas Genetics, a consumer-facing DNA testing company, suffered a security breach affecting customer information in its database. Veritas offers whole-genome sequencing to consumers for $599. The security...more
Left-handedness is a uniquely human trait, with 90% human populations globally being right-handed since the Paleolithic (extending from 3.3 million years ago to the end of the Pleistocene). A feature of motor control, the...more
More than a year ago, in April 2018, police announced that they had used a new investigative technique to arrest a man known as the Golden State Killer. For the first time, the police submitted DNA from a crime scene into a...more
DNA technology has assisted law enforcement in identifying criminals for decades. The U.S. National DNA Database System stores the DNA data of millions of criminals, and allows law enforcement officers around the country to...more
As a pioneer in DNA synthesis with several patents to her name, Dr. Emily Leproust could have enjoyed a distinguished career without ever leaving the lab. Instead she founded (and just took public) a company that promises to...more
While life insurers traditionally have set premiums based on a multitude of complex actuarial tables, the recent boom in direct-to-consumer DNA testing produces, such as 23andMe and AncestryDNA, is expanding the universe of...more