MYRIAD VOICES AGAINST GENE PATENTS IN THE HIGH COURT.

The Australian High Court's recent landmark decision in D'Arcy v Myriad Genetics Inc overturned the decision by the Federal Court in Cancer Voices Australia v Myriad Genetics Inc regarding patenting of genetic material. The Federal Court had found that isolated DNA and RNA can constitute a patentable invention under s 18(1)(a) of the Patents Act 1990 (Cth). The decision by the High Court unanimously reversed this and declared it was appropriate to look to the policy implications at the heart of the legal question: are genes a category of things that can be patented? This column critically examines the implications of the High Court decision for both research and public health in Australia.