The impact on human health of the global pandemic of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the resulting disease termed COVID-19 cannot be overstated. Not since the influenza pandemic of 1918 have so many regions of the world been so acutely impacted by a single pathogen. Society in 2020 has the advantage of a more sophisticated biotechnology
For the First Time, a Medical Treatment Patent Is Ruled Invalid Under Mayo/Myriad
As discussed in a previous blog post, since Mayo v. Prometheus, critics of medical treatment patents have advocated that such patents should be banned from patenting. While such arguments seemed futile based on the consistent position taken by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) that treating a disease or
Detecting Disease Is Not a “Tangible and Useful Result” Eligible for Patenting
The federal appeals court with jurisdiction over questions of patent law has consistently held that methods of diagnosing a disease or other biological condition violate the Supreme Court’s ban on patenting “natural phenomena.” A recent decision reaffirmed this position (in the veterinary sphere), and for the first time in many years clearly articulated the test