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Previous Volume 356:753-754 February 15, 2007 Number 7 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

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To the Editor: Kesselheim and Mello (Nov. 9 issue)¹ report on medical-process patents. There is a long-standing rule in the United States against patenting natural phenomena.² The issue in the LabCorp case (Laboratory Corporation of America v. Metabolite Laboratories) was whether patent applicants can circumvent this prohibition and assert ownership over biologic correlations by characterizing them as stepwise processes. The disputed patent in the LabCorp case claimed inverse associations between homocysteine levels and cobalamin (vitamin B₁₂) and folate levels.

However, the most important implications of the LabCorp case are for patents that claim analogous correlations between genetic . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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