UPDATED BELOW:
The nation’s highest court has agreed to hear a patent violation case brought by a California diagnostic firm against the Mayo Clinic.
Bloomberg reported that in accepting the case, the high court will decide which diagnostic medical tests can be patented. Prometheus Labs is the owner of the patents, which it claimed were infringed upon by Mayo.
Mayo Clinic is appealing the decision of a federal appeals court which favored Prometheus’s argument that Mayo violated two patents for determining the dosage of medicines to treat stomach diseases when it began selling a test of its own.
Mayo has argued that the tests cover natural phenomena that cannot be patented, while Prometheus has countered that its tests apply natural laws, but do not constitute the law itself.
Mayo Clinic spokeswoman Kathy Anderson said via e-mail that reports about Mayo licensing tests from Prometheus that are part of the current litigation are incorrect. She also noted that the clinic has released the following statement:
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
Mayo Clinic is pleased that the U.S. Supreme Court has granted its petition to review the Federal Circuit’s decision. This appeal is about promoting the delivery of high-quality health care at prices patients can afford. Prometheus has stifled Mayo’s efforts to offer patients a better diagnostic test by asserting their patents against Mayo Clinic. Mayo opposes such patents because they inhibit patient care, limit access to quality care, and increase health care costs. We look forward to the opportunity to address these issues before the Supreme Court.
