Sandra Park Argues Against Patents for Genes

The New York Times published a letter to the editor authored by former Skadden Fellow Sandra Park (’03) in response to Angelina Jolie’s op-ed about the genetic testing that led to her double mastectomy. Sandra, a senior staff attorney for the ACLU Women’s Rights Project, said that the ACLU has challenged before the Supreme Court Myriad Genetics’ patents on the genes that Jolie had tested. “As long as Myriad holds these patents, it has the exclusive right to dictate the testing options for women facing life-changing medical decisions,” including the “prohibitive price of recommended comprehensive testing,” the letter said. “For the health of women and men everywhere, these patents, and the many other patents on human genes that have been issued, should be invalidated.”

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