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Doctors Fight Patent On Medical Knowledge
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.
They merely patented something that a "common knowledge" thing in drugs.
I didn't realize it was "common knowledge." Now all you need to do is link to prior art in an e-mail to the Mayo Clinic's lawyers and everything will be resolved.
It's how urine drug screening has worked for 20 years, it's how tons of drug effectiveness tests work (mostly drug screenings).
I somehow think this is more complicated than that but I guess that's what I get from reading the article:
At issue in Prometheus are tests that measure levels of metabolites produced by the body after a person takes thiopurine drugs, which are typically used to treat Crohn's disease and other inflammatory bowel conditions. Knowing those levels helps doctors assess how well a patient is responding to thiopurine treatment. The drug dosage may be modified depending on whether the metabolite levels are too high or low.
Prometheus claims it alone is legally allowed to perform the tests that measure those metabolites. The company is the exclusive licensee of two patents--6,355,623 and 6,680,302--that it says cover the testing.
So urine screening has worked by testing metabolite levels as a patient responds to thiopurine treatment? See, it might make sense to us now but nobody knew it before the patent. If you can show that it was commonplace to check metabolite levels during thiopurine treatment and adjust dosage based on that, then these patents should be revoked. If not, the patents are unfortunately valid. Now, if this knowledge was gained from the patents then the patents are a good thing because they result in more accurate drug dosages and better treatment.
If you take away that revenue from Prometheus, what motive do they or other labs have to continue this kind of research?
My work here is dung.