New England Journal of Medicine
Volume 361 — December 10, 2009 — Number 24
http://content.nejm.org/current.shtml

The Supreme Court, Process Patents, and Medical Innovation
A. S. Kesselheim

[First 100 words per NEJM convention]
On November 9, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Bilski v. Kappos, one of the most closely watched cases in the Court’s current term. The central question involves the legitimacy of a patent on a method for hedging risk in commodities trading, but the outcome will have important implications for health care delivery and research. Although patents covering medicines, devices, and research targets such as DNA sequences have become commonplace, in recent years there has been a surge in new patents on medical processes.1 Patents have been awarded for processes such as making diagnoses, performing surgery, making prescribing…