House Introduces Patent Reform Proposal to Permit Second Opinions in Genetic Diagnostic Testing
When we last checked in on the state of patent reform back in March, the Senate had just passed the America Invents Act (S.23) or, as it is more commonly known, the Patent Reform Act of 2011 (pdf) by an overwhelming 95-5 vote.
Following its passage in the Senate, the legislation promptly stalled in the House of Representatives and, several months and numerous committee hearings later, that is where it remains. Fierce lobbying and political maneuvering have thrown multiple key provisions of the reform legislation into doubt. Leading areas of debate include the constitutionality of a proposed change from a “first-to-invent” to a “first-to-file” patent system and a provision that would allow the patent office to retain user fees to fund its own operations.
While it remains unclear whether patent reform will actually occur, the latest round of legislative wrangling has introduced one proposal of particular interest to Genomics Law Report readers. Among 86 pages of proposed amendments (pdf) to H.R.1249 (the House version of the patent reform legislation) offered earlier this week is a provision that, if adopted, would provide an infringement safe harbor for second opinion genetic diagnostic testing.
Permitting Second Opinions in Certain Genetic Diagnostic Testing. Introduced as part of the Manager’s Amendment (pdf) submitted by Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX), the proposal is conceptually simple. It would create a new Section 287(d) under the Patent Act to establish a safe harbor for second opinion genetic diagnostic testing providers, much like the safe harbor that already exists at Section 287(c) for medical practitioners’ performance of medical activities.
News Roundup: Perception Gaps and Progress in Personalized Medicine
With so many developments at the intersection of genomics and the law, there is often a variety of interesting stories that, for one reason or another, don’t find their way into a full-length posting on the Genomics Law Report. In this post we recap several recent key developments and, at bottom, round up all of the recent tweets from @genomicslawyer.
Personalized Medicine’s Perception Gaps. A new report released this week by the biopharmaceuticals company Quintiles (pdf) examines the perspectives of four key stakeholder groups – biopharma executives (n=200), managed care executives (n=153), physicians (n=503) and patients (n=1,000) – across a wide range of personalized medicine issues.
The report contains a number of interesting statistical nuggets about how these groups perceive their strengths, weaknesses and future role in the advancement of personalized medicine. These include the following:
- Only 44% of biopharmaceutical executives believe that their organization provides “readily available” outcomes data to demonstrate the value of medications;
- Healthcare professionals generally agree (65%) that patients who seek out information on their own achieve better health outcomes, but more than a third (36%) believe that patients are more frequently misinformed than they were five years ago;
- Fewer than half (44%) of doctors surveyed are optimistic that the quality of healthcare will be significantly improved over the coming decade; and
- At least a third of payers (33%) and biopharma execs (38%) believe that personalized medicine will have a negative effect on job and healthcare discrimination (this despite the passage of 2008 legislation (GINA) designed to prevent discrimination on the basis of genetic information in both cases).
Updating the DTC Debate: Trial by Press Release, More FDA Letters, the Problem of Pleiotropy and New RUO Guidance
Later today I will join several colleagues here in Chicago, IL at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting for a panel discussion on Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing for Cancer: What Physicians Need to Know (pdf). (Daniel MacArthur and Misha Angrist will not be on the panel, although each joined us in authoring the pre-conference paper.)
This will, I believe, mark direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing’s formal debut at ASCO. It should also serve as another reminder that, despite its relatively small numbers (both in terms of dollars and customers), DTC genetic testing continues to exert an outsized influence when it comes to conversations about the future of genomic medicine. This is particularly true when the discussion turns to appropriate policy and regulatory oversight.
In advance of ASCO, here are several items of interest from the past few weeks in DTC genetic testing.
Patent Update: Looking Beyond Section 101 and the Continued Murkiness of Method Patents
As the biotechnology community awaits the Federal Circuit’s decision in the Myriad Genetics patent litigation, attention has focused on the fundamental issue in that case: whether genes and methods for interpreting mutations are patentable subject matter under section 101 of the Patent Act—that is, whether they are the kinds of things that can be patented assuming that all of the other requirements of the Patent Act (pdf) are satisfied.
However, we have argued in several articles (see, e.g., here, here and here) that the real action is more likely to involve all of those “other requirements” as courts explore other ways to limit the patentability of scientific and technology progress without altering the threshold test of patentability under section 101.
A recent Federal Circuit case (Billups-Rothenberg, Inc. v. Associated Regional and University Pathologists, Inc.) decided under the written description requirement of section 112 illustrates this point yet again.
Billups v. ARUP Background. The Billups case involves a disorder called Type I hereditary hemochromatosis, which is characterized by excessive absorption of iron. The critical gene in the absorption process is called HFE, or “High Fe.” In 1994, Billups filed the application that led to a patent on methods for testing for hemochromatosis (U.S. patent number 5,674,681; “’681”). The court’s opinion reproduces this claim as “representative”:
New Diagnostic Guidelines and DTC Testing for Alzheimer’s Disease
Last month, the National Institute on Aging and the Alzheimer’s Association issued new diagnostic guidelines that divide Alzheimer’s disease into three distinct stages, reflecting recent evidence that the disease begins to affect the brain years before symptoms become evident. The expanded definition of Alzheimer’s includes two new phases of the disease:
(1) presymptomatic and (2) mildly symptomatic but pre-dementia, along with (3) dementia caused by Alzheimer’s. This reflects current thinking that Alzheimer’s begins creating distinct and measurable changes in the brains of affected people years, perhaps decades, before memory and thinking symptoms are noticeable.
At least for the moment, the new guidelines are intended to be used only with patients enrolled in clinical trials, making them more of a work in progress and not a standardized method of determining disease onset in Alzheimer’s patients.
Federal Alzheimer’s Activity. The revisions to the diagnostic guidelines – the first in nearly three decades – indicate how far scientists have come in understanding the disease and are reflected in new legislation introduced in both the Senate (S.738) and the House (H.R.1386) that would expand Medicare coverage of Alzheimer’s to cover “comprehensive Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis and services,” including for individuals who fall under stage (1) or (2) of the new guidelines.
The Next Social Media Revolution Will Occur In…Personalized Medicine?
Social media – including Facebook, Twitter and other social networking platforms – are widely credited with fundamentally altering the nature of political discourse and, in some instances, credited as catalysts of political revolution. But social media’s ability to affect change need not be limited to politics, as recent developments in the arena of personalized medicine and consumer genomics continue to demonstrate.
Social Media as a Research Tool. Last month, PatientsLikeMe, an online patient community, made headlines with a study published in Nature Biotechnology in which the company analyzed self-reported data from nearly 600 patients to demonstrate that the use of lithium had no effect on the progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease).
The study’s findings are valuable for ALS patients, who frequently experiment with unproven treatments in an attempt to slow progression of the degenerative disease for which there is not yet an effective therapy. But the long-term impact of the study’s methodological approach, which suggests “that data reported by patients over the internet may be useful for accelerating clinical discovery and evaluating the effectiveness of drugs already in use,” should be felt far beyond the ALS community.
News Roundup: Biotech Funding and LDT Regulation
With so many developments at the intersection of genomics and the law, there is often a variety of interesting stories that, for one reason or another, don’t find their way into a full-length posting on the Genomics Law Report. In this post we recap several recent key developments and, at bottom, round up all of the recent tweets from @genomicslawyer.
Biotech Funding: No Bubble, New Models and the IPO Option. Despite speculation that a recent rise in venture capital investments is indicative of a bubble, to be followed soon by a plunge in available investment capital, venture capital investments in the life sciences are holding steady, both in total dollars and in the size of an average financing. Thus, says Bruce Booth, a partner at Atlas Venture and author of Life Sci VC, there appears to be no bubble to debate, at least not in the life sciences. Booth observes that overall funding is “down considerably from the recent highs in 2007 and 2008” and, while other industries may be experiencing fewer but larger financings, “the data doesn’t support a frothy market for LS venture financings these days.”
Forensic DNA Fights Terrorism
The big news from the past 24 hours is the death of Osama Bin Laden, which was reported late Sunday evening by President Barack Obama. That’s front page news the world over. But Genomics Law Report readers might be interested to note that DNA appears to have played a significant role in confirming that it was, in fact, Bin Laden who was killed in a shootout with U.S. military forces yesterday in Pakistan.
As reported by The Telegraph earlier today, Bin Laden’s identity was confirmed by government officials only after they matched DNA taken from the body in Pakistan with DNA extracted from a preserved tissue sample from Bin Laden’s sister, who died of brain cancer several years ago. The identification happened rapidly, but, according to Christie Wilcox in a guest post at Scientific American, that’s not all that surprising. Wilcox outlines, step by step, how such an ID could have easily occurred in under 5 hours.
We have covered the use of forensic DNA techniques numerous times here at the GLR, and regular readers know identification through partial or familial DNA matching is not without both social and scientific critics. However, lest there be any doubt, CNN reports that the Obama administration used several methods, including facial recognition and eyewitness corroboration, to positively identify Bin Laden.
Next-Gen Sequencing Heading to Madison Avenue?
For companies seeking to make their mark in the ultra-competitive next-generation sequencing (NGS) market, new technology and lower prices may no longer be enough.
As the size of the NGS sequencing market grows and an increasing number of NGS purchasers evaluate an expanding array of providers and technologies (see William Blair’s Next-Generation Sequencing Survey), NGS companies are beginning to look beyond price points and product specs in an attempt to stand out.
Ion Torrent on the Offensive. Consider Ion Torrent, an NGS newcomer recently acquired by Life Technologies, which launched its first product (the Personal Genome Machine) a scant four months ago. Since then, Ion Torrent has announced improvements to the PGM’s output, read length and sample prep (coverage from Matthew Herper of Forbes here and here).
As it seeks to distinguish the PGM from its competitors’ products, particularly Illumina’s offerings (see J.P. Morgan’s Next Gen Sequencing Survey), Ion Torrent has added a new dimension to its PGM campaign. Ion Torrent recently launched several creative online advertisements, with its side-by-side comparison of the PGM and Illumina’s MiSeq system—modeled after Apple’s popular “I’m a Mac/I’m a PC” campaign—raising the most eyebrows.
Read the rest of this entry at Genomes Unzipped »
Weekly Roundup: FDA Regulations, Science Funding and Newborn Screening
With so many developments at the intersection of genomics and the law, there is often a variety of interesting stories that, for one reason or another, don’t find their way into a full-length posting on the Genomics Law Report. In this post we recap several recent key developments and, at bottom, round up all of the recent tweets from @genomicslawyer.
Continuing Uncertainty Over FDA’s 510(k) Overhaul. As we have discussed previously, in addition to overhauling the approval process for direct-to-consumer (DTC) and laboratory developed tests (LDTs), the FDA is also in the midst of a comprehensive review of its 510(k) clearance process for medical devices.
