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Doctors Fight Patent On Medical Knowledge

Posted by kdawson on from the no-not-patent-medicine dept.

I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "Doctor's groups, including the AMA and too many others to list, are supporting the Mayo Clinic in the case Prometheus v. Mayo. The Mayo Clinic alleges that the patents in question merely recite a natural phenomenon: the simple fact that the level of metabolites of a drug in a person's body can tell you how a patient is responding to that drug. The particular metabolites in this case are those of thiopurine drugs and the tests are covered by Prometheus Lab's 6,355,623 and 6,680,302 patents. But these aren't the only 'observational' patents in medicine — they're part of a trend where patents are sought to cover any test using the fact that gene XYZ is an indicator for some disease, or that certain chemicals in a blood sample indicate something about a patient's condition. There are even allegations that certain labs have gone so far as to send blood samples to a university lab, order testing for patented indicators, then sue that university for infringement. Naturally, Prometheus Labs sees this whole story differently, arguing that the Mayo Clinic will profit from treating patients with knowledge patented by them. They have their own supporters, too, such as the American Intellectual Property Law Association." Prometheus doesn't seem to be a classic patent troll; they actually perform the tests for which they have obtained patents.

6 of 205 comments (clear)

  1. What's next? by Tubal-Cain · · Score: 4, Funny

    Patenting chicken soup and lots of liquids for treating colds?

    1. Re:What's next? by psicop · · Score: 5, Funny

      A patent on the observation of cessation electrical activity in the heart, resulting in a pulse as a precursor to an eventual absence of a pulse.

      In other words...He's dead, Jim.

    2. Re:What's next? by Mordok-DestroyerOfWo · · Score: 3, Funny

      Dammit psicop, I'm a doctor not a patent lawyer!

      --
      "Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right" - Salvor Hardin
  2. Beaten to the punch by Drakkenmensch · · Score: 3, Funny

    I wanted to patent the process through which a person digests food into fecal matter, but clearly Prometheus already owns the patent on that one.

    1. Re:Beaten to the punch by batquux · · Score: 2, Funny

      Actually, their patent only covers when bulls do it.

  3. obesity as an indicator by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    I just read that while health care costs for everyone have been increasing, the jumps (and occurrences of illnesses) have been highest for obese people.

    Clearly, using obesity as an indicator of potential health risk is a highly valuable technique deserving of patent protection. Anyone who notices that they are overweight and think of trying to become healthier through diet and exercise should be sued for infringement! We need legislation to combat weight loss piracy!!!