Case Study Of Myriad Genetics Inc.

Myriad Genetics Inc. is an American- based company that is in the business of molecular diagnosis. Among other things Myriad researchers are trying to learn how the various sequences of DNA in the human body actually do and how those sequences can be applied in medicine. During one of their researches in 1991 the company made an extraordinary discovery of two genes, today known as BRCA1 and BRCA2, which under certain conditions were able to elevate the risk of women developing cancer in their life. Of course, the company was very enthusiastic about their discovery since it was possible for it to become a break-through in the scientific world. They knew that it will not only contribute a lot to the development of medicine but it was a potential
Therefore, soon after the discovery the scientist from Myriad Genetics started performing various tests, some of them they even offered to public, so they had a larger experimental base. The test, however were quiet expensive and not everyone could afford them. In addition, the fact that the actress Angelina Jolie undertook one of those tests and was found to have an elevated risk of cancer, put even more attention and pressure on Myriad’s discovery. As a result the company decided that it will be better if it patents its discovery and all the associated assets. So patents were granted to Myriad Inc., giving it the exclusivity over all test and items related to the genes in
The researchers found that some isolated for of DNA may be somehow correlated with cancer, but DNA that is not a discovery. This simply found a new use of a something created by nature. In its recent decision in Mayo, the US Supreme Court recounted the longstanding exclusion of ‘laws of nature, natural phenomena, and abstract ideas’ from the patent domain. The exception is itself subject to ill-defined limits, since at some level every invention must ‘rest upon, or apply laws of nature’. In Chakrabarty, the Supreme Court expressed the consequences of the rule in this