Myriad settles patent feud with Invitae, Pathway Genomics over BRCA technology

Myriad Genetics ($MYGN) is throwing in the towel in its fight to shut down competitors offering diagnostic tests that spot specific genetic mutations known to be associated with a higher risk of breast cancer.

The Salt Lake City-based company has settled its patent lawsuit with Pathway Genomics and Invitae over BRCA testing technology. It's another blow to the company, which last month lost a battle to keep rival BRCA tests off the market after a U.S. appeals court ruled that its patents for the products did not warrant legal protection.

Specific mutations and alterations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes are known to increase the risk of breast and ovarian cancers in women and account for about 20% to 25% of hereditary breast cancers and 15% of ovarian cancers. In 1994, scientists associated with Myriad claimed to have discovered and sequenced the BRCA1 gene. The company subsequently patented and published this discovery.

Now, under the patent agreement, Myriad Genetics, the University of Utah Research Foundation, HSC Research and Development Limited Partnership, Endorecherche, the trustees of the University of Pennsylvania and Pathway dismiss their respective claims and counterclaims against one another in the BRCA patent litigation, which began on June 13, 2014. Additionally, the patent owners--the trustees of the University of Pennsylvania--agreed to a pact saying they would not sue Pathway.

Pathway CEO Jim Plante

"We are very pleased to close this chapter and continue our focus on providing innovative cancer risk testing to patients around the world," Jim Plante, Pathway Genomics founder and CEO, said in a statement.

Myriad has a beleaguered history with the law over its BRCA technology. In June 2013, the Supreme Court ruled that "a naturally occurring DNA segment is a product of nature and not patent eligible merely because it has been isolated," quashing Myriad's patents on the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. But, the court also held that manipulating a gene to create something that doesn't occur in nature could still be eligible for patent protection.

Companies like Ambry Genetics, Gene by Gene and Quest Diagnostics ($DGX) that have rolled out their own BRCA tests for breast cancer have also fought Myriad in patent suits for a share of the market.

- see the Pathway statement
- get the Invitae release