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Federal Circuit Tosses Diagnostic Patent, Spurring Biopharma Calls For Congressional Action

 
• By Brenda Sandburg

A divided panel finds Athena Diagnostics' patent on method to diagnose myasthenia gravis is invalid; in dissent, Judge Newman cites industry concerns that the decision will deter development of new diagnostic methods.

Research analyst adding reagent to drug to keep tracking chemical reaction - Image

An appeals court finding that a diagnostic method was directed to a natural law, and thus not patent eligible, has prompted renewed calls for Congressional action to prevent such rulings.

In its Feb. 6 decision in Athena Diagnostics Inc. v. Mayo Collaborative Services LLC, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed by 2-1 a district court ruling that Athena's patent covering a method for diagnosing neurological disorders by detecting antibodies to the muscle-specific tyrosine kinase (MuSK) protein is invalid

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