Subject Matter Eligibility of AI Medical Treatments

Artificial intelligence (AI) has quickly become a springboard for breakthroughs in personalized medicine, enhanced medical imaging, and predictive modeling for drug development.[1] And given the role it played in two recent Nobel Prizes-one in chemistry, and the other in physics-AI appears to have an exceedingly bright future as a driver of innovation.

Correspondingly, AI will likely be a central limitation in many future patent claims. New treatments should lead to new patent protections. Yet a recent Federal Circuit decision and a patent office guidance document highlight a potential continuing hurdle for patents that claim AI advances in medical treatments: a lack of patentable subject matter.

Determining how to navigate this new terrain will be essential for innovators and businesses that want to protect inventive applications of AI in medical treatments. This post offers a quick guide through the relevant issues and possible solutions.

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