I read a press release from IntraGen which announces (emphasis mine)
IntegraGen, a French biotechnology company dedicated to gene discovery and the development of molecular diagnostic products and services, announced today that it has entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with The Johns Hopkins University and Massachusetts General Hospital to commercialize genetic tests that identify children at risk for autism which include a mutation to the Jumonji, AT Rich Interactive Domain 2 (JARID2) gene. Researchers at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital and IntegraGen have demonstrated that a specific mutation to this gene, known as a single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), is found in individuals with autism. IntegraGen has recently reported that the risk of autism is increased in children who have older siblings diagnosed with autism when this mutation of the JARID2 gene is found in combination with autism-related point mutations (SNPs) on other genes.
I found a publication from John Hopkins in Nature that shows rs7766973 is associated with Autism.
Now, the recent Myriad decision upheld the notion that the isolation of the gene is patentable, but that the information about which mutations are correlated with phenotypes is not patentable.
So is this just marketing speak for the idea that the particular test embodiement (i.e. gene isolation) is exclusively licensed, whilst anyone is free to perform this test if the data arises from, for example, whole genome sequencing?
