Originally Published
MX July/August 2002
BUSINESS NEWS
Gene Blues
Infectious-disease specialist Julie Gerberding, MD, is expected to be named the first female director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC; Atlanta). Previously CDC’s acting deputy director for science, she has been in the forefront of investigations into last fall’s anthrax attacks.
In May,
the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California lifted its stay
in patent infringement proceedings initiated by Computer Motion (Goleta, CA)
against Intuitive Surgical (Sunnyvale, CA) and set the trial date for April
29, 2003. Meanwhile, the U.S. Patent Office entered final judgments in favor
of Intuitive in two of three interference proceedings. Intuitive has filed a
motion with the California court for summary judgment of
noninfringement for the third patent in issue.
In spite of recently enacted privacy laws, a report commissioned by the California HealthCare Foundation (Oakland, CA), "Genetics and Privacy: A Patchwork of Protections,"says that individuals still cannot be assured their genetic information will be kept confidential. The report identifies major gaps in national policy that leave genetic information exposed to potential misuse. The report can be downloaded from http://www.chcf.org.
Copyright ©2002 MX
