Biotech industry worries over US court’s DNA ruling

The US Supreme Court’s rejection Thursday of natural DNA patent protection could hurt biotech companies, but specialists said it left enough safeguards for the industry to keep innovating.

The court ruled that Myriad Genetics, which sells expensive tests for the genetic markers for cancer, could not claim patents on the DNA it identified in the 1990s to develop the tests.

Critics said the ruling would inhibit other companies and their finan- cial backers, like venture capitalists, from investing in more genetic sequencing research because they could not patent their discoveries.

“The Supreme Court’s decision today represents a troubling departure from decades of judicial and Patent and Trademark Office precedent,” said Jim Greenwood, president of the Biotechnology Industry Organization.

Companies “have long relied on patents on preparations of DNA molecules and other biological chemicals in order to bring innovative, socially beneficial products to the marketplace,” he said, calling the United States “now the only developed country to take such a restrictive view of patent eligibility.”

“This is a real disappointment for the advancement of medical innovation,” said Kelly Slone, vice president of the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA).

“Venture capitalists needs certainty, and that certainty is what patents provide.” But analysts said the ruling was narrow enough to avoid stifling genetic sequencing research by pharmaceutical firms, agrotechnology businesses and others.

“The court clearly is struggling as it has been for years with striking the right balance,” said Michael Shuster, a partner at San Francisco law practice Fenwick & West, and a specialist in biotechnology and intellectual property. I think that they understand that the biotech industry is a bright spot for the economy.”