The plague, that variety of human ailments caused by the Yersinia pestis bacteria, is mythic in human history, a nightmare disease carried by fleas infesting rats, a species that is omnipresent in human civilizations. Its...more
Hiram Bentley Glass and classical geneticists of the Twentieth Century elucidated some of the ways that genetics could inform regarding human populations and their history, using observations like genetic drift (famously,...more
A major conceit of the "genomics" revolution, involving the various species-specific genome projects epitomized by the one for Homo sapiens was the idea that decoding a genome would tell us everything there was to know about...more
Human history is often something modern man only sees as through a glass, darkly. This is particularly the case when that history did not occur in the Mediterranean, the Nile Valley, India, or China, or when there is no...more
A recent report in the scientific journal Nature Genetics 49: 904–12 (May 2017), doi:10.1038/ng.3862, disclosed the results of genomic DNA sequencing and analysis of Betula pendula, the silver birch tree....more
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) is a storied institution in molecular biology, being the site of annual meetings related to this view of life since Schrodinger proposed to use quantitative methods to examine biology in...more
One of the effective arguments made by the ACLU in the AMP v. Myriad case was that somehow permitting patents on genes implicated a patient's privacy right in her genetic material. This was also the theme of their public...more
Invertebrate zoology is in many ways the most comprehensive survey course on biology, encompassing most multicellular life on the planet. (Indeed, the study of the Order Coleoptera alone, comprising the beetles, would...more
The ACLU championed its efforts in the AMP v. Myriad case as being another instance of the group fighting for the rights of the many and the powerless against corporate America and the oligarchical few. In a paradox, it now...more
As discussed at the end of January, Myriad has given up its Quixotic quest to validate its BRCA gene testing franchise and has abandoned its several lawsuits (many of which were consolidated before the District of Utah under...more
It seems that Orwell was right: all pigs are equal, but some are more equal than others.
The question of how diverse different breeds of domesticated animals may be has begun to be addressed with the completion of many...more
The phylogenetic Order Diptera comprises the "true" flies (defined as having a single pair of wings arising from the thorax) and is first found in the fossil record in the Middle Triassic (~245 million years ago). It is one...more
The Federal Circuit heard oral argument in the Ariosa v. Sequenom case last Friday, and a discussion of that argument will be posted in due course. Having posted on Sequenom's opening brief and the amicus brief filed by BIO,...more
Earlier this month, an international effort* led by Stephen J. O'Brien at the Oceanographic Center, Nova Southeastern University, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida reported the complete genomic sequencing of the domestic cat, Felix...more
While the rest of the patent world was focused on Supreme Court opinions (issued and pending) and Congressional action vel non on threats like patent trolls, the consolidated Multi District Litigation between Myriad Genetics...more
In an article in The Cancer Letter entitled "Robert Cook-Deegan's Viewers' Guide To the Super Bowl of Gene Patent Cases," Professor Robert Cook-Deegan (at right) of the Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy and Sanford...more
On March 13, Myriad Genetics filed a Notice of (interlocutory) Appeal with the Federal Circuit. Myriad is seeking to have the Court review and reverse the District Court's denial of the company's preliminary jnjunction...more
In a 106-page opinion, U.S. District Court Judge Robert J. Shelby on Monday denied Myriad Genetics motion for preliminary injunction in Myriad Genetics v. Ambry Genetics. Characteristic of its aggressive defense of its...more
3/12/2014
/ AMP v Myriad ,
BRCA ,
DNA ,
Genetic Materials ,
Human Genes ,
Myriad ,
Myriad v Ambry ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patents ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Preliminary Injunctions
Earlier this week, Sequenom, Inc. filed its opening brief in Ariosa Diagnostics, Inc. v. Sequenom, Inc., appealing summary judgment that its licensed claims to a genetic diagnostic method for detecting fetal diseases and...more
1/31/2014
/ DNA ,
Genetic Materials ,
Genetic Testing ,
Human Genes ,
Mayo v. Prometheus ,
Patent Applications ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patent-Eligible Subject Matter ,
Patents ,
SCOTUS ,
Section 101 ,
Sequenom ,
Summary Judgment
Last Wednesday, Judge Susan Illston of the Northern District of California granted summary judgment to declaratory judgment plaintiff Ariosa Diagnostics Inc. in Ariosa Diagnostics v. Sequenom. The legal basis of the court's...more
Some of our commenters have asked (with greater or lesser degrees of stridency) that we "take a position" on claims like the Myriad method claims at issue in the lawsuits brought against Ambry Genetics, Gene-by-Gene, and...more
In responding to Myriad Genetics' complaint for patent infringement, both Ambry Genetics and Gene-by-Gene asserted counterclaims under the Sherman Antitrust Act, predicated on Myriad's filing its patent infringement lawsuit. ...more
Turnabout being fair play, Myriad Genetics today filed suit against Quest Diagnostics, Inc. and Quest Diagnostics Nichols Institute for patent infringement in an action brought in the Federal District Court for the District...more
After a brief hiatus that saw Counsyl and Quest Diagnostics file declaratory judgment actions in alternate venues, Myriad has filed yet another lawsuit against a genetic diagnostics company that brought its own BRCA gene...more
One of the many untruthful positions taken by the ACLU in the AMP v. Myriad Genetics case was that DNA is merely information, like a computer program, and as such Myriad's patent claims were invalid as reciting...more