Angelina Jolie revealed breast cancer genes, Supreme Court stands against patenting them

There was an unique human gene, rather breast cancer gene, which took shelter in Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie’s body and miraculously increased her cancer risk factor. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled against scientists and biomedical companies who were looking forward to patent such genes.

Such a patent is already owned by Myriad Genetics which grants them to conduct a test for the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. Jolie underwent the particular test and was diagnosed with the high risk factor following which she underwent the double mastectomy to prevent the disease from entering her body. Scientists and biomedical companies were interested in patenting the disease-linked genes to enhance the quality of what we call life-saving science. But the court ruled in favour of American Civil Liberties Union who stood against the plea.

JusticeClarence Thomasruled, “Genes and the information they encode are not patent-eligible under [federal law] simply because they have been isolated from the surrounding genetic material. … Myriad did not create anything. To be sure, it found an important and useful gene, but separating that gene from its surrounding genetic material is not an act of invention." The court approved patenting cloned or “artificial genes”. Dr. Beth Karlan, director of the Cedars-Sinai Women's Cancer Program at the Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute was very happy with ruling, "It's transformative.” She further added, "By giving people better access to genetic testing and allowing scientists to do more research on their genes, we'll be able to get the answers we need to find cancers earlier and to help people take preventative actions to avoid cancers that could threaten their lives."