NEWS OF THE W EEK
HIGH COURT TO HEAR MYRIAD GENETICS CASE PATENT LAW: Long fight continues
over human gene patentability
T
HE SUPREME COURT will decide whether hu-
man genes can be patented, a long-disputed legal question that has implications for the future of personalized health care. The justices will consider a challenge to Myriad Genetics’ patents on genetic material—BRCA1 and BRCA2—used in tests to identify an increased risk of hereditary breast and ovarian cancer. The question for the Court is whether genes removed from the cell in a laboratory are human-made inventions eligible for patent protection or products of nature that cannot be patented. In a 2-1 ruling on Aug. 16, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal SHUTTERSTOCK
The Supreme Court is expected to decide by summer 2013 whether human genes are patentable.
TAMING FLUOROFORM SYNTHETIC METHODS: Chemists
refine approach for using a waste greenhouse gas
A
FTER YEARS OF trial and error, chemists may
finally have developed a general method to elevate fluoroform, CF3H, from a useless and problematic chemical by-product into a feedstock for making pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals. Processes to make nonstick coatings, refrigerants, insulation for electrical wiring, and stain-resistant fabrics generate tons of unwanted CF3H each year. The non toxic gas has a low impact on the ozone layer, but it’s a potent greenhouse gas. Chemical companies have faced the choice of spending money to decompose the chemical or storing it away indefinitely in tanks. G. K. Surya Prakash and coworkers at the University of Southern California have now figured out the precise conditions needed to allow chemists to use inert CF3H to transfer CF3 groups to a variety of molecules (Science, DOI: WWW.CEN-ONLIN E .ORG
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Circuit upheld the biotechnology company’s right to patent isolated genes. “The isolated DNA molecules before us are not found in nature,” wrote Judge Alan D. Lourie. “They are obtained in the laboratory and are man-made, the product of human ingenuity.” But the patents have been challenged by a variety of medical associations and doctors, led by the Association for Molecular Pathology. They contend that Myriad’s monopoly on BRCA genetic testing restricts scientific research and patients’ access to medical care. “Myriad and other gene patent holders have gained the right to exclude the rest of the scientific community from examining the naturally occurring genes of every person in the U.S.,” the plaintiffs, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, say in their petition seeking review of the appeals court decision. “These patents endanger women who deserve access to the best possible care as they make life-changing medical decisions,” says ACLU staff attorney Sandra S. Park. Myriad’s diagnostic test has helped almost 1 million people learn about their risk of hereditary cancer, says Peter D. Meldrum, the company’s CEO. “The discovery and development of pioneering diagnostics and therapeutics require a huge investment, and our U.S. patent system is the engine that drives this innovation,” he says. The court likely will hear the case in early spring 2013 and rule before the end of June.—GLENN HESS
10.1126/science.1227859). They found that a particular base, potassium hexamethyldisilazide, is required to optimally activate the C–H bond of fluoroform. Selecting the right organic solvent, typically tetrahydrofuran, is also important. In one reaction, the USC researchers added elemental sulfur to CF3H to make trifluoromethanesulfonic acid, CF3SO3H. It’s one of the strongest acids known and widely used, for example, as a catalyst. In another, the team combined CF3H with various trialkylsilyl chlorides to make trifluoromethylsilanes. One of these compounds, (CH3)3SiCF3, known as the Ruppert-Prakash reagent, is a popular trifluoromethylating reagent. The researchers also treated CF3H with trialkyl borates to prepare CF3BF3K, a salt useful in trifluoromethylation reactions. In addition, the team took a crack at using CF3H for direct trifluoromethylations of carbonyl groups in a variety of ketones, aldehydes, formate esters, and other compounds, achieving modest yields. Using CF3H is potentially an inexpensive way for chemists to introduce CF3 groups into their target molecules, notes Thomas M. Stevenson, a research fellow at DuPont Crop Protection. As a gas, it is less convenient for small-scale lab work, he says, but it might be a big deal for manufacturing. “Certainly this work is not the first use of fluoroform, but it does have the broadest scope of utility,” Stevenson adds. “It will be of interest to the wider community of organic chemists.”—STEVE RITTER
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