Intellectual Property

  • Read more: Are Human Genes Patentable?
    Article

    Are Human Genes Patentable?

    By Efthimios Parasidis The Supreme Court will consider the patentability of human genes when it reviews the Myriad case this term. As Bill of Health readers are likely to know, the Myriad case centers on Myriad’s patents on gene sequences for BRCA mutations that are associated with the propensity to develop breast or ovarian cancer.  Myriad does…

  • Read more: Does Whole Genome Sequencing Circumvent Gene Patents?
    Article

    Does Whole Genome Sequencing Circumvent Gene Patents?

    By Nicholson Price [originally posted at Bio-IT World on Dec. 10, 2012] What happens when, during the course of whole-genome sequencing (WGS) a patient or research subject, an investigator sequences and analyzes a disease gene that has been patented? The U.S. Supreme Court will shed some light on this question next year when it issues its…

  • Read more: Elhauge on Solving the Patent Settlement Puzzle
    Article

    Elhauge on Solving the Patent Settlement Puzzle

    Founding Director of the Petrie-Flom Center, Professor Einer Elhauge, has just published an article with co-author Alex Krueger on an issue that the Supreme Court just granted certiorari on in FTC v. Watson: the proper antitrust analysis of reverse payment patent settlements.  In such settlements, the alleged infringer receives a payment and agrees to stay…

  • Read more: 2012 Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest
    Article

    2012 Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest

    By Adriana Benedict The 2012 Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest has just come to a close in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  The conference brought together global leaders in intellectual property-related fields like access to medicines, access to knowledge, internet freedom, innovation and development, and open educational resources.  I was invited to participate…

  • Read more: Open Access to Health Research: Highlights from the NIH Public Access Policy panel
    Article

    Open Access to Health Research: Highlights from the NIH Public Access Policy panel

    By Adriana Benedict As of 2008, the NIH Public Access Policy requires “that all investigators funded by the NIH submit or have submitted for them to the National Library of Medicine’s PubMed Central an electronic version of their final, peer-reviewed manuscripts upon acceptance for publication, to be made publicly available no later than 12 months…

  • Read more: Reminder: Tomorrow, Institutional Financial Conflicts of Interest in Research Universities
    Article

    Reminder: Tomorrow, Institutional Financial Conflicts of Interest in Research Universities

    Friday, November 2, 2012 8:30am – 6:30pm (reception to follow) Milstein Conference Rooms, 2nd Floor Wasserstein Hall 1585 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA The Petrie-Flom Center and the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics will be co-sponsoring a day-long symposium organized by Dr. David Korn on institutional financial conflicts of interest in research universities. The speaker line-up is incredible, including Derek Bok and Zeke…

  • Read more: FDA Reprimands Genentech for “Drastically Overstat[ing] the Efficacy of Tarceva”
    Article

    FDA Reprimands Genentech for “Drastically Overstat[ing] the Efficacy of Tarceva”

    by Jonathan J. Darrow On October 3, 2012, the FDA’s Division of Professional Drug Promotion issued an untitled letter to Genentech in connection with its cancer drug Tarceva.  Tarceva (erlotinib) was approved in 2004 for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer, and has since been approved, in combination with Gemzar (gemcitabine), for the treatment…

  • Read more: Call for Papers – Petrie-Flom Center Annual Conference: The Food and Drug Administration in the 21st Century
    Article

    Call for Papers – Petrie-Flom Center Annual Conference: The Food and Drug Administration in the 21st Century

    We are pleased to announce plans for our annual conference, this year entitled: “The Food and Drug Administration in the 21st Century.”  This one and a half day event will take place Friday and Saturday, May 3-4, 2013, at Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. For details on the event and the call for proposals,…