Pending Regulation
Some Thoughts on Myriad After the Supreme Court Argument
On April 15, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics. This was another significant step—probably the penultimate one—in the long-running Myriad drama. It began with a group of plaintiffs (including researchers, doctors, and breast cancer patients) joining an American Civil Liberties Union-organized lawsuit to invalidate Myriad’s patents on two breast cancer susceptibility genes (BRCA1 and 2) as well as patents on methods of interpreting genetic test results and testing anti-cancer drug efficacy. In a shocking decision, the federal district court in New York threw out all of Myriad’s patents. The Federal Circuit then reversed the district court’s rulings on the gene patents, with the three-judge panel holding unanimously that cDNA is patentable subject matter and holding 2-1 that isolated genomic DNA is patentable as well. The Federal Circuit affirmed the district court’s ruling that Myriad’s methods of interpreting mutations are not patentable, but reversed it in reinstating Myriad’s claims to methods of testing drug efficacy.
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House Holds mHealth Hearings, FDA Promises Final Guidance Forthcoming
Three days of hearings by a House of Representatives committee concluded yesterday with a pledge from an FDA official to finalize long-awaited guidance on the regulation of mobile medical applications “in coming weeks“; at the latest by the end of the FDA’s fiscal year (i.e., September 30th).
The hearings, convened jointly by several subcommittees of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, were announced last week following a pointed letter to the FDA (pdf) from seven committee members on March 1st. In the letter, the Congressmen pressed the FDA for information on the agency’s mHealth regulatory timeline and the implications for innovation and industry of the proposed regulations.
A Preview of Guidance to Come. As covered previously here at the Genomics Law Report, in July 2011 the FDA released draft guidance (pdf) outlining its intent to regulate a limited subset of mobile medical applications based on their perceived risk to patients and consumers.
The FDA, Social Media & Consumer Genomics: A Lot Not to “Like”
Last week, the FDA published on its website a warning letter to AMARC Enterprises, Inc., a marketer of a dietary supplement known as Poly-MVA. (Here is the company’s description of the supplement.) While the letter is not addressed to a high-profile company or product, given that the FDA’s action will likely have broader significance beyond just AMARC and its Poly-MVA supplement, all currently or potentially FDA-regulated entities, including consumer genomics companies, should take note.
The AMARC letter, issued by a regional compliance office and dating to this past December, is unremarkable in most respects. The majority of the letter focuses on website copy, printed information packets, customer testimonials and other materials that appear, at least to the FDA, to represent claims made by AMARC that the Poly-MVA supplement is “intended for use in the cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease,” thus making it a drug subject to FDA regulatory approval.
mHealth on the Horizon: Federal Agencies Paint Regulatory Landscape with Broad Brushstrokes
For years, and with increasing frequency, health care and information technology companies have touted the potential of mobile medical and health applications and technologies to improve the quality and delivery of health care through the use of technology. While the future of mobile health (frequently referred to as “mHealth”) is undoubtedly filled with promise, the legal and regulatory landscape in which mHealth technologies reside is only now beginning to take shape.
As mHealth developers, funders and even users consider investing in the field, or including in particular mHealth technologies, they should keep in mind the emergent and fluid nature of the mHealth regulatory landscape. Here, we outline the likely key players and discuss several recent and projected initiatives with respect to the oversight of mHealth technologies:
Removing the Cables: New FCC Rule Paves Way for Utilization of Wireless Medical Technology
Amit Bhagwandass is a rising third-year student at University of North Carolina School of Law.
New rules adopted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) have an appreciable impact on the way that hospitals, nursing homes and other inpatient and outpatient health care providers will monitor their patients in the future. The new FCC rules enable the use of Medical Body Area Networks (MBANs). MBANs are low-power wideband networks consisting of multiple body-worn sensors that transmit various patient data to a control device that collects data from the sensors.
Wireless devices operating on the MBAN spectrum can be used to continuously monitor a patient’s health by measuring indicators such as blood glucose levels, blood pressure and electrocardiogram results. Additionally, wireless health devices can include mobile devices and associated applications of increasing relevance to consumer health and personalized medicine, such as mobile-device enabled sensors that monitor vital signs for any number of traits or conditions like blood pressure, glucose levels or even the early signs of an asthma attack.
23andMe Seeks FDA Clearance (Podcast)
Last week, personal genetics company 23andMe announced that it had formally delivered the first round of documentation to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in an attempt to receive 510(k) clearance for its consumer product.
23andMe declared itself “first in the [ direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing] industry to announce it is working towards FDA clearance.” That first followed another first for the company earlier in the summer: 23andMe’s first patent, which covers a method of predicting susceptibility to Parkinson’s Disease.
I sat down last week with The Burrill Report to discuss 23andMe’s recent activities and their implications for the future of DTC genetic testing and personalized medicine. You can listen to the complete podcast here.
The Burden of Enforcing GINA: EEOC v. Nestle Illustrates One Challenge in Pursuing Genetic Discrimination Claims
The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA) is a federal law making it illegal for insurers and employers to acquire and to use genetic information in certain contexts. Specifically, Title II of GINA prohibits employers with more than 15 employees, employment agencies, labor organizations, and joint labor-management training and apprenticeship program committees from using genetic information when making employment decisions (e.g. hiring, firing, promotions, placement, compensation, privileges, seniority, etc).
The employment discrimination provisions took effect on November 21, 2009, with an air of uncertainty, as the Final Rules implementing Title II of GINA were not issued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) until a year later (See 75 Fed Reg 68912-68939 [pdf], issued November 9, 2010) and did not take effect until January 10, 2011. (See previous GLR coverage of GINA Title II here and of GINA generally here).
Courts in Unsettled Territory turn to the Map Available: United States v. Mitchell
We recently covered the Ninth Circuit’s split decision in Haskell v. Harris,1 which found DNA Fingerprinting of arrestees pursuant to California’s Prop 69 to be constitutionally sound. We also reported the Minnesota Supreme Court findings in In re Welfare of M.L.M. and State v. Johnson, rejecting challenges of DNA Fingerprinting based on 4th Amendment and Equal Protection grounds.
An Update from Colorado. An ongoing prosecution, United States v. Fricosu,2 became the most recent constitutional challenge to DNA fingerprinting upon arrest. The defendant, Ramona Fricosu, had her DNA sampled as part of her arrest pursuant to the DNA Fingerprinting Act of 2005, 42 U.S.C. §14135(a). She filed a motion challenging the constitutionality of the practice, requesting that the court order her DNA sample and CODIS profile be destroyed. Fricosu challenged the constitutionality of the practice on Fourth Amendment grounds. On February 22, 2012, Colorado District Judge Blackburn denied the motion (pdf).
On Genetic Rights and States: a Look at South Dakota and Around the U.S.
SD H.B. 1260, introduced in South Dakota on January 26, 2012, is an act that would govern the use of genetic information. By any standards – and especially by legislative standards – the two-page bill (pdf) is succinct and should not be considered a state variation of GINA, as the bill does not speak to non-discrimination issues.
The bill’s brevity should not, however, be mistaken for a narrowness of purpose. In under 200 words, the South Dakota bill, if passed, would (1) grant property rights to individuals in their DNA samples and genetic information, (2) prohibit surreptitious testing, (3) call into question many forensic and law enforcement uses of DNA, (4) eliminate newborn blood spot screening without explicit consent and (5) impose broadly worded informed consent requirements on all collections and uses of individual genetic data. So much for inefficient government.
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Ninth Circuit Issues Long-Awaited Ruling on Constitutionality of DNA Fingerprinting
Jennifer K. Wagner, J.D., Ph.D., is a solo-practicing attorney in State College, PA and a research associate at the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for the Integration of Genetic Healthcare Technologies.
In December 2009 the Northern District of California upheld the constitutionality of California’s Prop 69, which authorizes DNA fingerprinting as part of the routine booking process of individuals charged with felonies. There, in Haskell v. Brown, the defendants challenged California’s Prop 69 by arguing it violated both the 4th and 14th Amendments since, respectively, DNA fingerprinting upon felony arrest was, according to defendants, an unreasonable search and a violation of informational privacy.
