The AMA Litigation Center of the AMA and State Medical Societies updated participants on two recent cases.
In the first case, entitled Association for Molecular Pathology v. United States Patent and Trademark Office, the court decided the issue of whether or not human gene sequences are patentable. The Litigation Center entered the case by filing an amicus brief on behalf of the plaintiffs.
The brief argued that the BRCA1 and BRCA2 (breast and ovarian cancer) gene sequences should not have been issued a patent because those sequences were products of nature, and therefore, not patentable. By initially issuing the patents, the company that controlled them would then be able to control their use in research and diagnostic testing. On March 29, 2010, the judge ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and the Litigation Center.
In the second case, AMA, MSSNY & MSMA v. UnitedHealthcare, an update was given on the status of the class action settlement in this case. Physicians who provided out-of-network services under the United umbrella of health plans are entitled to share in a division of the settlement amount. Claim forms have been mailed, but extras can be attained from the AMA website. Claims must be postmarked no later than October 5, 2010.
Attendees also heard about a lawsuit recently filed by the AMA to prohibit enforcement of the Red Flags Rule. The FTC recently announced yet another delay in the enforcement of the rule – until January 1, 2011. The case is pending.