Supreme Court justices seemed to express skepticism Monday that a biotech company can patent human genes isolated from the body that signal a greater likelihood of ovarian or breast cancer.
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Today's headlines include coverage of the Supreme Court oral arguments regarding whether patents should be granted for human genes.
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The high court will hear a challenge to Myriad Genetics' patent of breast and ovarian cancer genes in a case that will affect the future of biomedical research, the fight against diseases like breast and ovarian cancer and a multi-billion dollar biotechnology business.
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The FDA has found safety violations at 28 of 29 compounding pharmacies that are supposed to be producing sterile drugs.
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"[T]he impact of [a decision by the Supreme Court in India to disallow a new patent for an updated version of Novartis' cancer drug Glivec] will likely be broader than just that issue, escalating a long-simmering fight over patented cancer medications in emerging markets," Thomas Bollyky, senior fellow for global health, economics, and development at the Council on Foreign Relations and an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University, writes in an Atlantic opinion piece.
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mPhase Technologies, Inc. said today that it is pursuing licensing opportunities for its Smart Drug Delivery System.
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Neuralstem, Inc. announced today that it received a notice of allowance for patent application 12/404,841. This patent covers methods for treating amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig 's disease) with expanded spinal cord stem cells, including NSI-566.
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Noting that India's Supreme Court on Monday ruled that drug maker Novartis "should not be given a patent for a cancer drug because it was too similar to Novartis's earlier version," a New York Times editorial writes, "The decision, which is the culmination of a high-profile, seven-year legal battle, should help protect the availability of cheap generic drugs for poor patients."
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Antares Pharma, Inc. announced that it has received a Notice of Allowance from the U.S. Patent Trade Office on a patent application for the VIBEX QuickShot device, the latest advancement in its proprietary line of VIBEX auto-injector systems.
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Reuters examines the implications of India's Supreme Court ruling to reject drug maker Novartis's request for a new patent on an updated version of the cancer treatment Glivec on the pharmaceutical industry in India and across the developing world.
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Oramed Pharmaceuticals Inc., a developer of oral drug delivery systems, announced today that it has received approval for a key patent by the Japanese Patent Office.
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"In a decisive victory for India's pharmaceutical industry, India's Supreme Court rejected Novartis' patent application for the cancer drug Glivec on Monday, ending a seven-year battle by the Swiss drug maker to get a patent in India on its powerful leukemia drug," Time reports (Mahr, 4/1).
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"India's Supreme Court on Monday rejected drug maker Novartis AG's attempt to patent an updated version of a cancer drug in a landmark decision that health activists say ensures poor patients around the world will get continued access to cheap versions of lifesaving medicines," the Associated Press reports.
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Covidien, a leading global provider of healthcare products, today announced that it has won a patent infringement suit against Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company, relating to Ethicon's Harmonic line of ultrasonic surgical products.
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Cytori Therapeutics received US Patent No. 8,404,229 (the '229 patent) for methods of treating renal diseases using adipose-derived regenerative cells (ADRCs).
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The Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute has signed a licensing agreement with the Spanish biotech company Histocell to make use of a patent for the treatment of acute pulmonary diseases with mesenchymal stem cells.
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Humans don't "own" their own genes, the cellular chemicsals that define who they are and what diseases they might be at risk for. Through more than 40,000 patents on DNA molecules, companies have essentially claimed the entire human genome for profit, report two researchers who analyzed the patents on human DNA. Their study, published March 25 in the journal Genome Medicine, raises an alarm about the loss of individual "genomic liberty."
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"The Indonesian government hopes to implement one of the largest ever examples of 'compulsory licensing,' which will enable the generic manufacture of drugs still under patent," IRIN reports.
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Epizyme, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company creating innovative personalized therapeutics for patients with genetically defined cancers, announced today that it has received a Notice of Issuance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for its patent application entitled "ARYL-OR HETEROARYL-SUBSTITUTED BENZENE COMPOUNDS", U.S. Patent No.: 8,410,088.
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Biogen Idec today announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has granted U.S. Patent No. 8,399,514, which offers additional protection for TECFIDERA (dimethyl fumarate), the company's oral therapeutic candidate for the treatment of multiple sclerosis.
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