Biotech Sizes up Federal Circuit Ruling in Myriad Case.

Washington Editor

The Federal Circuit giveth, and it taketh away in deciding a challenge to the patentability of Myriad Genetics Inc.'s BRACAnalysis, a breast cancer gene test.

In a split decision handed down Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled that isolated DNA and complementary DNA (cDNA) can be patented, but it struck down method claims for a process that compares and analyzes nucleotide sequences because the method did not involve a "transformative" step.

"There are a number of companies out there breathing a sigh of relief" as a result of the decision, Jennifer Camacho, a partner with Greenberg Traurig, told BioWorld Today.

The Federal Circuit reversed a district court's decision that "Myriad's composition claims to 'isolated' DNA molecules cover patent-ineligible products of nature . . . since the molecules as …