Blogs

A U.S. District judge has ruled in favor of the ACLU in their lawsuit against Myriad Genetics today, stating that it's patents for the BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene-test “are directed to a law of nature and were therefore improperly granted.”

Kartemquin's Emmy-nominated documentary In the Family screens in Chicago tomorrow at the Better Boys Foundation and is achieving our goal of reaching the new audiences who need to hear about the issues involved in the film by being featured in two local bilingual newspapers: Extra News and Lawndale Bilingual Newspaper.

Chicago's Better Boys Foundation will host a free screening of In the Family on March 26th. Director Joanna Rudnick will attend the screening and participate in a post-screening Q+A along with several experts on breast/ovarian cancer.

For public information about the screening, contact Kelley Moseley, BBF YouthLAB Co-Director, at 773-542-7335 or kelley.moseley@betterboys.org.

Filmmaker Joanna Rudnick and her film In the Family have the final word in a recent Washington Post article on the ACLU lawsuit against Myriad Genetics' patenting of the test to detect the BRCA gene mutation.

Northwestern University in Qatar will host the Middle East premiere of the Emmy-nominated documentary In the Family on March 16th at 9pm. Director/Producer Joanna Rudnick will attend the screening. NU-Q students will also screen their own mini-documentary, which has been submitted to the Al Jazeera Documentary Film Festival competition, as part of the event.

Kartemquin Films would like to congratulate director/producer Joanna Rudnick for receiving a FORCE 'Spirit of Empowerment Award.' Joanna will be honored in the Arts and Media category for giving "a powerful and moving voice to the hereditary cancer community" through her award-winning film In the Family.

The first federal court hearing in the ACLU's case against BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene patents took place on February 2, 2010. We were excited to read about this monumental hearing on the ACLU Blog of Rights.

Please join us in helping Martha Haley, who appeared in the film and is battling metastatic breast cancer, with her living expenses by donating to Martha through the Emergency Fund. Please specify "Martha Haley Fund" in the comments section. Thank you so much for your support.

http://donate.emergencyfund.org

A federal district court has ruled that patients and scientists can challenge patents on human genes in court, allowing the ACLU and PUBPAT lawsuit challenging BRCA patents to move forward. Read the press release and view new photos from the ACLU's In the Family screening in New York.