The unanimous decision by the Supreme Court Justices to strike down patent claims by Myriad Genetics on the BRCA gene is a milestone that will greatly shape the future of the genetic testing industry and, in fact, accelerate progress toward the use of whole-genome sequencing for patients well beyond breast cancer.

Recently the Supreme Court struck down patent claims by Myriad Genetics on the BRCA gene. The Court ruled that while synthetically produced DNA may be patentable, isolated genomic DNA (gDNA), discovered in nature and separated from its environment in the cell, is not patent-eligible.

The unanimous decision by the Supreme Court Justices has significant implications for patients, physicians, and the health care and life sciences industries. In many ways, this is a milestone that will greatly shape the future of the genetic testing industry and, in fact, accelerate progress toward the use of whole-genome sequencing for patients well beyond breast cancer.

Within a day of the Court’s verdict, 10 companies announced their intention to compete with Myriad—and more are sure to follow, as BRCA has proven to be a very relevant gene for assessing risk levels, disease targets, and potential treatments.

While this industry flurry illustrates the potentially significant commercial opportunity here, the greater implication is that the landscape is beginning to shift toward sequence analysis on a genome-wide basis rather than on individual gene testing.

Because fundamentally, the gene-by-gene approach to genetic testing that would be necessary if individual companies had patents on certain genetic tests is un-economical and wasteful, compared with the scope of knowledge and insights to be gained from a whole-genome sequencing analysis. As evidenced by Myriad’s recent announcements to abandon individual BRCA testing by 2014, it seems they also acknowledge this trend.

Ultimately, then, the future of competition in genetic testing will be driven by the ever-improving tools for sequencing, managing genomic data, and manipulating large data sets—and not simply by patents on DNA sequences discovered in nature.