Patenting personalized medicines in the UK, Europe and USA

Abstract

In this review, we take a look at the patentability issues surrounding personalized medicine patent claims. We examine how the USA and European Patent Office have dealt with such patent claims, and then review the UK ‘inherency‘ and ‘selection‘ decisions to take a view as to how the UK courts will deal with personalized medicine patent claims in the future. We conclude that the UK courts will likely be willing to uphold patent protection for personalized medicines in the right circumstances.