US Supreme Court decision in medical discovery case eagerly awaited

Pharmaceutical company Merck has asked the court to decide on a patent matter after losing an appeal, reports the Los Angeles Times. The Burnham Institute in San Diego had successfully sued Merck for patent infringement for using a discovery made by one of its scientists to develop a brain cancer drug. The case centred on the 1982 discovery by Michael Pierschbacher of a tiny peptide that guides human cell growth and migration. Some time later, David Cheresh, a scientist at Scripps Research Institute, became convinced that the peptide, a string of three amino acids, had promise as an anti-cancer drug. In 1994 Cheresh started collaborating with German drug maker Merck on a brain cancer medicine. Merck argues its research was permitted under a ‘federal exemption’ for all work aimed at getting Food and Drug Administration approval for drugs. Full report in the Los Angeles Times