"The Genome Defense" – Gene Patents, Civil Rights Litigation and American Government

In 2013, the US Supreme Court held that naturally occurring genetic sequences may not be patented, instantly invalidating hundreds, if not thousands, of existing patents and opening the market to genetic screens for cancer and other hereditary diseases.  The case, Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, was remarkable in many ways, not least because it was prosecuted on behalf of twenty plaintiffs -- researchers, professional associations, medical practitioners and individual patients -- by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Public Patent Foundation as a case centered on individual civil rights rather than a technical interpretation of the U.S. Patent Act. The case also sheds light on the poorly understood role of the executive branch and its many offices and agencies in formulating U.S. policy on science-based issues.  In The Genome Defense: Inside the Epic Legal Battle to Determine Who Owns Your DNA (Hachette/Algonquin, 2021), Professor Jorge Contreras brings this important and unique case to life.  Through nearly 100 interviews with attorneys, advocates, judges, patients and government officials, Contreras peels back the layers of this remarkable episode in American legal history and explains not only what happened, but why and how, and what its implications are for the future of medical science.https://app.registrationguru.net:443#!/portal?eventId=fcec394b-339d-4583-a8dd-940c2f90c102