Statement by NIH Director Francis Collins on U.S. Supreme Court Ruling on Gene Patenting - The NIH Director - National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Statement by NIH Director Francis Collins on U.S. Supreme Court Ruling on Gene Patenting - The NIH Director - National Institutes of Health (NIH)

NIH Applauds Gene Patent Ruling

National Institutes of Health (NIH) sent this bulletin at 06/13/2013 04:22 PM EDT

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The NIH Director, Dr. Francis Collins has issued a new statement. Read it here:

June 13, 2013: Statement by NIH Director Francis Collins on U.S. Supreme Court Ruling on Gene Patenting


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Statement by NIH Director Francis Collins on U.S. Supreme Court Ruling on Gene Patenting

June 13, 2013
I am very pleased with today's ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Assoc. for Molecular Pathology Et Al. v. USPTO and Myriad Genetics, Inc. Et Al. that genes isolated from the human body are not patentable. The decision represents a victory for all those eagerly awaiting more individualized, gene-based approaches to medical care.
The right to control exclusively the use of a patient’s genes could have made it more difficult to access new tests and treatments that rely on novel technologies that can quickly determine the sequence of any of the estimated 20,000 genes in the human genome. Such approaches form the cornerstone of the rapidly emerging field of personalized medicine, in which diagnostic, therapeutic, and preventive strategies can be tailored to each person’s unique genetic makeup.
Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D.
NIH Director