When Chris Hansen, an ACLU lawyer, learned that the U.S. government was issuing patents for human genes to biotech companies, his first thought was: How can a corporation own what makes us who we are? Then he discovered that women were being charged exorbitant fees to test for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer—all because Myriad Genetics had patented the famous BRCA genes. So he sued them.
In his book, The Genome Defense: Inside the Epic Legal Battle to Determine Who Owns Your DNA, Jorge Contreras gives us a front-row seat as Hansen and a team of ACLU lawyers, along with a committed group of activists, scientists, and physicians, take their one-in-a-million case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Join the HLS Library and the Petrie-Flom Center on October 20, 12:30 EDT, where Contreras and expert panelists, including PFC Faculty Director and HLS Deputy Dean I. Glenn Cohen, will discuss this landmark case and remaining unresolved questions in genetics law.