0:00:05.345,0:00:08.357
It was an afternoon in the fall of 2005.

0:00:09.187,0:00:12.891
I was working at the ACLU[br]as the organization's science advisor.

0:00:13.272,0:00:15.330
I really, really loved my job,

0:00:16.010,0:00:18.428
but I was having one of those days

0:00:18.428,0:00:21.400
where I was feeling[br]just a little bit discouraged.

0:00:21.400,0:00:25.713
So I wandered down the hallway[br]to my colleague Chris Hansen's office.

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Chris had been at the ACLU[br]for more than 30 years,

0:00:29.993,0:00:33.273
so he had deep institutional[br]knowledge and insights.

0:00:33.771,0:00:36.864
I explained to Chris[br]that I was feeling a little bit stuck.

0:00:37.646,0:00:39.821
I had been investigating[br]a number of issues

0:00:39.821,0:00:44.256
at the intersection of science[br]and civil liberties - super interesting,

0:00:45.003,0:00:49.182
but I wanted the ACLU to engage[br]these issues in a much bigger way,

0:00:49.182,0:00:51.610
in a way that could really[br]make a difference.

0:00:53.871,0:00:55.987
So Chris cut right[br]to the chase and he says,

0:00:55.987,0:00:59.916
"Well, of all the issues you've been[br]looking at, what are the top five?"

0:00:59.916,0:01:02.486
"Well, there's genetic discrimination,

0:01:02.486,0:01:04.863
and reproductive technologies,

0:01:04.863,0:01:06.750
and biobanking, and ...

0:01:07.053,0:01:08.939
Oh! -- there's this really cool issue,

0:01:08.939,0:01:11.518
functional MRI and using it[br]for lie detection, and ...

0:01:11.518,0:01:13.550
Oh! and of course, there's gene patents."

0:01:13.550,0:01:15.341
"Gene patents?"

0:01:15.884,0:01:18.158
"Yes, you know, patents on human genes."

0:01:18.158,0:01:19.504
"No!

0:01:19.814,0:01:22.282
You're telling me that the US government

0:01:22.282,0:01:25.526
has been issuing patents[br]on part of the human body?

0:01:25.526,0:01:27.312
That can't be right."

0:01:28.045,0:01:31.677
I went back to my office[br]and sent Chris three articles.

0:01:32.003,0:01:35.452
And 20 minutes later,[br]he came bursting in my office.

0:01:35.579,0:01:39.348
"Oh my god! You're right! Who can we sue?"

0:01:39.508,0:01:41.538
(Laughter)

0:01:41.679,0:01:43.535
Now Chris is a really brilliant lawyer,

0:01:43.535,0:01:46.715
but he knew almost nothing[br]about patent law,

0:01:46.715,0:01:49.331
and certainly nothing about genetics.

0:01:49.331,0:01:52.149
I knew something about genetics,[br]but I wasn't even a lawyer,

0:01:52.149,0:01:53.995
let alone a patent lawyer.

0:01:53.995,0:01:58.086
So clearly we had a lot to learn[br]before we could file a lawsuit.

0:01:58.086,0:02:01.150
First, we needed to understand[br]exactly what was patented

0:02:01.150,0:02:03.248
when someone patented a gene.

0:02:03.798,0:02:07.149
Gene patents typically contain[br]dozens of claims,

0:02:07.708,0:02:12.758
but the most controversial of these[br]are to so-called, "isolated DNA."

0:02:13.118,0:02:17.495
Namely, a piece of DNA[br]that has been removed from a cell.

0:02:18.432,0:02:19.860
Gene patent proponents say,

0:02:19.860,0:02:23.156
"See? We didn't patent[br]the gene in your body,

0:02:23.156,0:02:25.357
we patented an isolated gene."

0:02:25.592,0:02:26.784
And that's true,

0:02:26.784,0:02:33.448
but the problem is that any use[br]of the gene requires that it be isolated.

0:02:34.931,0:02:39.050
And the patents weren't just[br]to a particular gene that they isolated,

0:02:39.050,0:02:42.378
but on every possible[br]version of that gene.

0:02:42.667,0:02:44.211
So what does that mean?

0:02:44.369,0:02:47.498
That means that you can't give[br]your gene to your doctor

0:02:47.498,0:02:49.537
and ask him or her to look at it,

0:02:49.537,0:02:51.542
say, to see if it has any mutations,

0:02:51.542,0:02:53.974
without permission of the patent holder.

0:02:54.684,0:02:58.849
It also means that the patent holder[br]has the right to stop anyone

0:02:58.849,0:03:02.432
from using that gene[br]in research or clinical testing.

0:03:03.718,0:03:05.569
Allowing patent holders,

0:03:05.593,0:03:06.877
often private companies,

0:03:06.901,0:03:11.387
to lock up stretches of the human genome[br]was harming patients.

0:03:11.958,0:03:13.110
Consider Abigail,

0:03:13.134,0:03:15.527
a 10-year-old with Long QT Syndrome,

0:03:15.551,0:03:18.975
a serious heart condition that,[br]if left untreated,

0:03:18.999,0:03:20.777
can result in sudden death.

0:03:21.911,0:03:25.833
The company that obtained a patent on two[br]genes associated with this condition

0:03:25.857,0:03:28.339
developed a test to diagnose the syndrome.

0:03:28.363,0:03:31.187
But then they went bankrupt[br]and they never offered it.

0:03:32.060,0:03:33.988
So another lab tried to offer the test,

0:03:34.012,0:03:37.000
but the company that held the patents[br]threatened to sue the lab

0:03:37.024,0:03:38.206
for patent infringement.

0:03:38.230,0:03:39.389
So as a result,

0:03:39.413,0:03:42.275
for 2 years, no test was a available.

0:03:43.291,0:03:44.441
During that time,

0:03:44.465,0:03:47.715
Abigail died of undiagnosed Long QT.

0:03:48.776,0:03:52.013
Gene patents clearly were a problem[br]and were harming patients.

0:03:52.467,0:03:54.873
But was there a way[br]we could challenge them?

0:03:56.864,0:03:58.585
Turns out that the Supreme Court

0:03:58.585,0:04:01.460
has made clear[br]through a long line of cases,

0:04:01.460,0:04:04.774
that certain things[br]are not patent eligible.

0:04:05.534,0:04:07.988
You can't patent products of nature -

0:04:07.988,0:04:12.170
the air, the water, minerals,[br]elements of the periodic table.

0:04:13.081,0:04:15.783
And you can't patent laws of nature -

0:04:16.296,0:04:18.839
the law of gravity, E = mc2.

0:04:18.943,0:04:22.715
These things are just too fundamental[br]and must remain free to all,

0:04:23.825,0:04:26.028
and reserved exclusively to none.

0:04:26.028,0:04:28.485
It seemed to us that DNA,

0:04:28.485,0:04:31.545
the most fundamental structure of life,

0:04:31.545,0:04:34.185
that codes for the production[br]of all of our proteins,

0:04:34.185,0:04:37.165
is both a product of nature[br]and a law of nature,

0:04:37.165,0:04:40.205
regardless of whether it's in our bodies

0:04:40.205,0:04:42.610
or sitting in the bottom of a test tube.

0:04:43.045,0:04:44.577
As we delved into this issue,

0:04:44.577,0:04:48.398
we traveled all over the country[br]to speak with many different experts -

0:04:48.973,0:04:52.453
scientists, medical professionals,[br]lawyers, patent lawyers.

0:04:53.210,0:04:56.503
Most of them agreed that we were right[br]as a matter of policy,

0:04:56.528,0:05:00.023
and, at least in theory,[br]as a matter of law.

0:05:00.541,0:05:02.191
All of them thought

0:05:02.191,0:05:04.761
our chances of winning[br]a gene-patent challenge

0:05:04.761,0:05:06.628
were about zero.

0:05:07.864,0:05:09.378
Why is that?

0:05:09.968,0:05:12.849
Well, the patent office[br]had been issuing these patents

0:05:12.849,0:05:14.963
for more than 20 years.

0:05:15.750,0:05:18.609
There were literally thousands[br]of patents on human genes.

0:05:20.062,0:05:22.911
The patent bar was deeply[br]entrenched in the status quo,

0:05:23.672,0:05:26.891
the biotech industry had grown up[br]around this practice,

0:05:27.202,0:05:30.506
and legislation to ban gene patents[br]had been introduced

0:05:30.506,0:05:32.102
year after year in Congress,

0:05:32.102,0:05:33.767
and had gone absolutely nowhere.

0:05:34.398,0:05:35.911
So the bottom line:

0:05:35.911,0:05:39.156
courts just weren't going to be willing[br]to overturn these patents.

0:05:40.174,0:05:44.406
Now, neither Chris nor I were the type[br]to shy away from a challenge,

0:05:44.406,0:05:47.610
and hearing, "Being right[br]just isn't enough,"

0:05:48.029,0:05:50.559
seemed all the more reason[br]to take on this fight.

0:05:51.643,0:05:53.593
So we set out to build our case.

0:05:54.832,0:05:58.644
Now, patent cases tend to be:[br]Company A sues Company B

0:05:58.656,0:06:01.592
over some really narrow,[br]obscure technical issue.

0:06:02.502,0:06:04.892
We weren't really interested[br]in that kind of case,

0:06:04.892,0:06:07.550
and we thought this case[br]was much bigger than that.

0:06:07.550,0:06:10.202
This was about scientific freedom,[br]medical progress,

0:06:10.202,0:06:11.720
the rights of patients.

0:06:11.720,0:06:14.200
So we decided we were going[br]to develop a case

0:06:14.200,0:06:16.334
that was not like[br]your typical patent case.

0:06:17.192,0:06:19.816
More like a civil rights case.

0:06:20.130,0:06:22.958
We set out to identify[br]a gene-patent holder

0:06:22.958,0:06:25.627
that was vigorously enforcing its patents,

0:06:26.095,0:06:29.545
and then to organize a broad coalition[br]of plaintiffs and experts

0:06:29.545,0:06:31.119
that could tell the court

0:06:31.119,0:06:35.043
about all the ways that these patents[br]were harming patients and innovation.

0:06:37.156,0:06:39.953
We found the prime candidate[br]to sue in Myriad Genetics,

0:06:39.953,0:06:43.146
a company that's based[br]in Salt Lake City, Utah.

0:06:44.571,0:06:46.729
Myriad held patents on two genes,

0:06:46.729,0:06:50.130
the BRCA1 and the BRCA2 genes.

0:06:50.887,0:06:53.643
Women with certain mutations[br]along these genes

0:06:53.643,0:06:56.219
are considered to be[br]at a significantly increased risk

0:06:56.219,0:06:58.344
of developing breast and ovarian cancer.

0:06:59.881,0:07:01.874
Myriad had used its patents to maintain

0:07:01.874,0:07:06.197
a complete monopoly on BRCA testing[br]in the United States.

0:07:07.426,0:07:11.402
It had forced multiple labs[br]that were offering BRCA testing, to stop.

0:07:11.459,0:07:13.657
It charged a lot of money for its test -

0:07:13.657,0:07:15.130
over 3,000 dollars.

0:07:15.747,0:07:18.285
It had stopped sharing its clinical data

0:07:18.285,0:07:20.562
with the international[br]scientific community.

0:07:21.276,0:07:23.323
And perhaps worst of all,

0:07:23.323,0:07:25.451
for a period of several years,

0:07:25.548,0:07:29.162
Myriad refused to update its test[br]to include additional mutations

0:07:29.171,0:07:33.374
that had been identified[br]by a team of researchers in France.

0:07:33.914,0:07:36.212
It has been estimated[br]that during that period,

0:07:36.212,0:07:37.569
for several years,

0:07:37.569,0:07:41.715
as many as 12 percent of women[br]undergoing testing

0:07:41.715,0:07:44.906
received the wrong answer -

0:07:44.906,0:07:48.812
a negative test result[br]that should have been positive.

0:07:50.325,0:07:51.925
This is Kathleen Maxian.

0:07:52.899,0:07:56.552
Kathleen's sister Eileen[br]developed breast cancer at age 40

0:07:56.552,0:07:58.382
and she was tested by Myriad.

0:07:59.191,0:08:01.108
The test was negative.

0:08:01.108,0:08:02.505
The family was relieved.

0:08:02.505,0:08:05.839
That meant that Eileen's cancer[br]most likely didn't run in the family,

0:08:05.839,0:08:08.855
and that other members of her family[br]didn't need to be tested.

0:08:09.637,0:08:11.417
But two years later,

0:08:11.417,0:08:15.117
Kathleen was diagnosed[br]with advanced-stage ovarian cancer.

0:08:16.052,0:08:19.888
It turned out that Kathleen's sister[br]was among the 12 percent

0:08:19.888,0:08:22.899
who received a false-negative test result.

0:08:23.395,0:08:26.692
Had Eileen received the proper result,

0:08:26.692,0:08:28.795
Kathleen would have then been tested,

0:08:28.795,0:08:31.388
and her ovarian cancer[br]could have been prevented.

0:08:33.950,0:08:35.375
Once we settled on Myriad,

0:08:35.375,0:08:39.156
we then had to form a coalition[br]of plaintiffs and experts

0:08:39.156,0:08:41.259
that could illuminate these problems.

0:08:41.561,0:08:43.957
We ended up with 20[br]highly committed plaintiffs,

0:08:45.091,0:08:46.606
genetic counselors,

0:08:46.606,0:08:49.821
geneticists who had received[br]cease and desist letters,

0:08:50.119,0:08:52.262
advocacy organizations,

0:08:52.557,0:08:56.263
four major scientific organizations[br]that collectively represented

0:08:56.263,0:08:59.514
more than 150,000 scientists[br]and medical professionals

0:09:00.314,0:09:03.520
and individual women who either[br]couldn't afford Myriad's test,

0:09:03.520,0:09:06.878
or who wanted to obtain[br]a second opinion but could not,

0:09:06.878,0:09:08.652
as a result of the patents.

0:09:10.114,0:09:13.026
One of the major challenges[br]we had in preparing the case

0:09:13.026,0:09:16.406
was figuring out how best[br]to communicate the science.

0:09:16.406,0:09:21.187
So in order to argue that what Myriad did[br]was not an invention,

0:09:21.187,0:09:24.339
and that isolated BRCA genes[br]were products of nature,

0:09:24.859,0:09:28.118
we had to explain a couple[br]of basic concepts, like:

0:09:28.118,0:09:30.470
What's a gene? What's DNA?

0:09:30.470,0:09:34.564
How is DNA isolated,[br]and why isn't that an invention?

0:09:35.016,0:09:38.685
We spent hours and hours[br]with our plaintiffs and experts,

0:09:38.685,0:09:42.188
trying to come up with ways[br]of explaining these concepts

0:09:42.188,0:09:43.972
simply yet accurately.

0:09:43.972,0:09:47.447
And we ended up relying heavily[br]on the use of metaphors,

0:09:47.826,0:09:49.239
like gold.

0:09:50.016,0:09:52.388
So isolating DNA -

0:09:52.388,0:09:54.819
it's like extracting gold from a mountain,

0:09:54.819,0:09:57.344
or taking it out of a stream bed.

0:09:59.502,0:10:03.135
You might be able to patent[br]the process for mining the gold,

0:10:03.135,0:10:05.137
but you can't patent the gold itself.

0:10:06.258,0:10:08.550
It might've taken a lot[br]of hard work and effort

0:10:08.550,0:10:10.734
to dig the gold out of the mountain;

0:10:10.734,0:10:13.479
you still can't patent it,[br]it's still gold.

0:10:13.797,0:10:15.515
And the gold, once it's extracted,

0:10:15.515,0:10:17.747
can clearly be used[br]for all sorts of things

0:10:17.747,0:10:20.463
that it couldn't be used[br]for when it was in the mountain;

0:10:20.463,0:10:22.720
you can make jewelry[br]out of it for example -

0:10:22.720,0:10:25.244
still can't patent the gold,[br]it's still gold.

0:10:26.568,0:10:30.977
So now it's 2009,[br]and we're ready to file our case.

0:10:31.536,0:10:34.950
We filed in federal court[br]in the southern district of New York,

0:10:36.032,0:10:39.601
and the case was randomly assigned[br]to Judge Robert Sweet.

0:10:39.895,0:10:43.201
In March 2010, Judge Sweet[br]issued his opinion -

0:10:44.019,0:10:46.048
152 pages -

0:10:46.048,0:10:48.864
and a complete victory for our side.

0:10:49.647,0:10:51.306
In reading the opinion,

0:10:51.306,0:10:56.940
we could not get over how eloquently[br]he described the science in the case.

0:10:57.571,0:10:59.709
I mean, our brief -[br]it was pretty good,

0:10:59.709,0:11:01.535
but not this good.

0:11:02.797,0:11:06.890
How did he develop such a deep[br]understanding of this issue

0:11:06.890,0:11:08.423
in such a short time?

0:11:08.423,0:11:11.115
We just could not comprehend[br]how this had happened.

0:11:11.729,0:11:13.105
So it turned out,

0:11:13.105,0:11:16.326
Judge Sweet's clerk[br]working for him at the time,

0:11:16.326,0:11:18.210
was not just a lawyer -

0:11:18.210,0:11:19.809
he was a scientist.

0:11:19.809,0:11:21.426
He was not just a scientist -

0:11:21.426,0:11:23.988
he had a PhD in molecular biology.

0:11:24.753,0:11:26.411
(Laughter)

0:11:26.411,0:11:28.734
What an incredible stroke of luck!

0:11:29.948,0:11:30.977
Myriad then appealed

0:11:30.977,0:11:34.413
to the US Court of Appeals[br]for the Federal Circuit.

0:11:34.413,0:11:36.844
And here things got really interesting.

0:11:37.253,0:11:40.412
First, in a pivotal moment of this case,

0:11:41.024,0:11:44.031
the US government switched sides.

0:11:44.716,0:11:48.344
So in the district court the government[br]submitted a brief on Myriad's side.

0:11:48.344,0:11:53.229
But now in direct opposition[br]to its own patent office,

0:11:53.229,0:11:56.475
the US government files a brief[br]that states that is has

0:11:56.475,0:11:59.959
"reconsidered this issue[br]in light of the district court's opinion,

0:11:59.959,0:12:03.181
and has concluded that isolated DNA[br]is not patent eligible."

0:12:03.628,0:12:05.547
This was a really big deal,

0:12:05.547,0:12:07.090
totally unexpected.

0:12:08.313,0:12:10.561
The Court of Appeals[br]for the Federal Circuit

0:12:10.561,0:12:12.261
hears all patent cases,

0:12:12.261,0:12:15.699
and it has a reputation for being[br]very, very pro-patent.

0:12:15.699,0:12:18.510
So even with this remarkable development,

0:12:18.510,0:12:20.106
we expected to lose.

0:12:20.326,0:12:21.595
And we did.

0:12:22.323,0:12:23.707
Sort of.

0:12:24.736,0:12:27.283
Ends up split decision, 2 to 1.

0:12:28.140,0:12:30.666
But the two judges who ruled against us,

0:12:30.666,0:12:33.242
did so for completely different reasons.

0:12:33.529,0:12:35.386
The first one, Judge Lourie,

0:12:35.386,0:12:38.097
made up his own novel,[br]biological theory -

0:12:38.097,0:12:39.511
totally wrong.

0:12:39.750,0:12:40.958
(Laughter)

0:12:40.958,0:12:43.191
Decided Myriad had created[br]a new chemical -

0:12:43.191,0:12:45.111
made absolutely no sense.

0:12:45.207,0:12:48.941
Myriad didn't even argue this,[br]so it came out of the blue.

0:12:49.516,0:12:51.493
The other, Judge Moore,

0:12:51.493,0:12:55.583
said she basically agreed with us[br]that isolated DNA is a product of nature.

0:12:56.671,0:13:00.460
But she's like, "I don't want[br]to shake up the biotech industry."

0:13:02.233,0:13:04.095
I can think of a lot of things

0:13:04.095,0:13:08.481
that if judges had said that, we'd be[br]in a very different society right now.

0:13:08.702,0:13:11.292
The third, Judge Bryson,

0:13:11.292,0:13:12.857
agreed with us.

0:13:13.848,0:13:16.666
So now we sought review[br]by the Supreme Court.

0:13:16.666,0:13:19.120
And when you petition the Supreme Court,

0:13:19.120,0:13:22.622
you have to present a question[br]that you want the court to answer.

0:13:22.622,0:13:26.811
Usually these questions take the form[br]of a super-long paragraph,

0:13:26.811,0:13:29.693
like a whole page long[br]with lots and lots of clauses,

0:13:29.693,0:13:31.790
"wherein this" and "therefore that."

0:13:32.443,0:13:36.466
We submitted perhaps[br]the shortest question presented ever.

0:13:37.541,0:13:39.020
Four words:

0:13:40.723,0:13:43.143
Are human genes patentable?

0:13:43.143,0:13:46.006
Now when Chris first asked me[br]what I thought of these words,

0:13:46.006,0:13:47.523
I said, "Well, I don't know.

0:13:47.523,0:13:50.795
I think you have to say,[br]'Is isolated DNA patentable?'"

0:13:51.136,0:13:52.397
"Nope.

0:13:52.397,0:13:57.158
I want the justices to have[br]the very same reaction that I had

0:13:57.158,0:14:00.652
when you brought this issue[br]to me seven years ago."

0:14:00.990,0:14:03.299
Well, I certainly couldn't[br]argue with that.

0:14:03.925,0:14:07.593
The Supreme Court only hears[br]about one percent

0:14:07.593,0:14:09.350
of the cases that it receives,

0:14:09.350,0:14:11.091
and it agreed to hear ours.

0:14:12.132,0:14:16.131
The day of the oral argument arrives[br]and it was really, really exciting -

0:14:16.131,0:14:18.033
long line of people outside,

0:14:18.033,0:14:20.931
people had been standing in line[br]since 2:30 in the morning

0:14:20.931,0:14:22.755
to try to get into the courthouse.

0:14:22.755,0:14:24.759
Two breast cancer organizations,

0:14:24.759,0:14:27.174
Breast Cancer Action and FORCE,

0:14:27.174,0:14:29.883
had organized a demonstration[br]on the courthouse steps.

0:14:29.883,0:14:32.482
Chris and I sat quietly in the hallway,

0:14:33.633,0:14:36.606
moments before he was to walk in and argue

0:14:36.606,0:14:38.671
the most important case of his career.

0:14:39.409,0:14:41.829
I was clearly more nervous than he was.

0:14:42.214,0:14:45.214
It's a good thing he was arguing,[br]and not me.

0:14:45.346,0:14:48.891
And I sat there, sort of thinking,[br]"Oh, God, is he ready?

0:14:49.721,0:14:53.431
Did I do everything I could have done[br]to help prepare him for this day?"

0:14:53.467,0:14:58.599
But any remaining panic subsided[br]as I walked into the courtroom

0:14:58.599,0:15:01.337
and looked around[br]at a sea of friendly faces:

0:15:01.337,0:15:03.375
our individual women clients,

0:15:03.375,0:15:06.492
who had shared their[br]deeply personal stories;

0:15:06.492,0:15:10.671
the geneticists who had taken huge chunks[br]of time out of their busy careers

0:15:10.671,0:15:12.654
to dedicate themselves to this fight;

0:15:12.654,0:15:15.182
and representatives from a diverse array

0:15:15.182,0:15:17.474
of medical, patient advocacy,

0:15:17.474,0:15:19.652
environmental and religious organizations,

0:15:19.652,0:15:23.036
who had submitted friend of the court[br]briefs in the case.

0:15:24.297,0:15:27.364
Also in the room were three leaders[br]of the Human Genome Project,

0:15:27.364,0:15:30.036
including the co-discoverer[br]of DNA himself,

0:15:30.041,0:15:31.300
James Watson,

0:15:31.300,0:15:33.343
who had submitted a brief to the court,

0:15:33.343,0:15:36.816
where he referred[br]to gene patenting as "lunacy."

0:15:37.761,0:15:39.248
(Laughter)

0:15:39.248,0:15:42.215
The diversity of the communities[br]represented in this room

0:15:42.215,0:15:45.897
and the contributions each had made[br]to make this day a reality

0:15:45.897,0:15:48.063
spoke volumes to what was at stake.

0:15:49.151,0:15:51.317
The argument itself was riveting.

0:15:51.669,0:15:53.471
Chris argued brilliantly.

0:15:53.471,0:15:54.919
But for me,

0:15:54.919,0:15:58.890
the most thrilling aspect was watching[br]the Supreme Court Justices grapple

0:15:58.890,0:16:00.508
with isolated DNA,

0:16:00.508,0:16:05.289
through a series of colorful analogies[br]and feisty exchanges,

0:16:05.289,0:16:09.027
very much the same way[br]as our legal team had done

0:16:09.027,0:16:10.746
for the past seven years.

0:16:11.573,0:16:13.947
Justice Kagan likened isolating DNA

0:16:13.947,0:16:17.546
to extracting a medicinal plant[br]from the Amazon.

0:16:18.686,0:16:23.048
Justice Roberts distinguished it[br]from carving a baseball bat from a tree.

0:16:24.731,0:16:27.355
And in one of my absolutely[br]favorite moments,

0:16:27.355,0:16:32.285
Justice Sotomayor proclaimed isolated DNA[br]to be "just nature sitting there."

0:16:32.672,0:16:34.346
(Laughter)

0:16:34.346,0:16:37.010
We felt pretty confident[br]leaving the courtroom that day,

0:16:37.010,0:16:40.327
but I could never have[br]anticipated the outcome:

0:16:41.141,0:16:42.755
Nine to zero.

0:16:44.929,0:16:48.615
"A naturally occurring DNA segment[br]is a product of nature,

0:16:48.615,0:16:51.452
and not patent-eligible merely because[br]it has been isolated.

0:16:52.001,0:16:53.235
And furthermore,

0:16:53.235,0:16:55.812
Myriad did not create anything."

0:16:58.054,0:16:59.630
Within 24 hours of the decision,

0:16:59.630,0:17:01.358
five labs had announced

0:17:01.358,0:17:04.423
that they would begin to offer testing[br]for the BRCA genes.

0:17:04.988,0:17:08.947
Some of them promised to offer the tests[br]at a lower price than Myriad's.

0:17:08.947,0:17:11.898
Some promised to provide[br]a more comprehensive test

0:17:11.898,0:17:13.781
than the one Myriad was offering.

0:17:14.365,0:17:16.862
But of course the decision[br]goes far beyond Myriad.

0:17:16.862,0:17:21.334
It ends a 25-year practice[br]of allowing patents on human genes

0:17:21.334,0:17:22.876
in the United States.

0:17:22.876,0:17:27.272
It clears a significant barrier[br]to biomedical discovery and innovation.

0:17:28.089,0:17:32.872
And it helps to ensure that patients[br]like Abigail, Kathleen and Eileen

0:17:32.872,0:17:35.326
have access to the tests that they need.

0:17:37.229,0:17:39.871
A few weeks after the court[br]issued its decision,

0:17:39.871,0:17:42.307
I received a small package in the mail.

0:17:43.322,0:17:45.104
It was from Bob Cook-Deegan,

0:17:45.104,0:17:47.169
a professor at Duke University,

0:17:47.169,0:17:50.412
and one the very first people[br]Chris and I went to visit

0:17:50.412,0:17:54.562
when we started to consider[br]whether to bring this case.

0:17:55.739,0:17:58.661
I opened it up to find[br]a small stuffed animal.

0:17:59.368,0:18:02.895
(Laughter)

0:18:05.270,0:18:07.757
We took a big risk in taking this case.

0:18:08.066,0:18:11.053
Part of what gave us the courage[br]to take that risk

0:18:11.053,0:18:13.606
was knowing that we were doing[br]the right thing.

0:18:13.606,0:18:17.142
The process took nearly eight years[br]from the start to finish,

0:18:17.142,0:18:19.480
with many twists and turns along the way.

0:18:20.222,0:18:22.336
A little luck certainly helped,

0:18:22.336,0:18:25.393
but it was the communities[br]that we bridged,

0:18:25.393,0:18:27.196
the alliances that we created,

0:18:27.196,0:18:29.122
that made pigs fly.

0:18:29.122,0:18:30.515
Thank you.

0:18:30.515,0:18:32.568
(Applause)