Myriad sues Ambry over cancer gene screening tests
Biotech company Myriad Genetics has filed a patent infringement case against Ambry Genetic Corp for allegedly infringing 10 patents related to genetic diagnostic testing.
The filing comes less than a month after the US Supreme Court ruled that human genes are not patent eligible, invalidating Myriad’s patent claims that gave it the exclusive right to isolate the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes.
On the day of the Supreme Court ruling, Ambry began offering BRCA1 and BRCA2 analysis to test for the risk of breast and ovarian cancer.
Myriad claims Ambry has infringed or contributed to the infringement of the asserted claims of 10 of its patents, all of which relate to the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes.
Myriad has brought the action at the US District Court for the District of Utah with the University of Utah Research Foundation, the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, HSC Research and Development Limited Partnership and Endorecherche Inc, which individually or jointly own five of the patents at issue. The other five patents are owned by Myriad.
In the complaint, Myriad has requested damages and the delivery of all products found to infringe the patents for destruction. It has also demanded a jury trial.
Mercedes Meyer, partner at Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP in Washington DC, noted that not all claims of Myriad’s patents were invalidated by the Supreme Court in its June ruling.
“The claims that remain can still be enforced, and that’s what Myriad is doing,” she said.
“There are still hundreds of valid claims out there,” she said, adding that the Myriad case did not “clear the playing field” for competitors seeking to make new genetic diagnostic tests available. Whether these competitors will be inhibited by Myriad’s remaining patent claims depends on whether their tests entail infringing steps, she added.
Meyer said that companies seeking to offer genetic screening may have to analyse their tests for any steps that may infringe Myriad’s patent claims, then determine whether those claims are patent eligible under 35 U. S. C. §101, or other statutes.
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