Law360, New York (November 3, 2015, 12:43 PM EST) -- The Federal Circuit's recent decision in Ariosa Diagnostics Inc. v. Sequenom Inc., 788 F.3d 1371 (Fed. Cir. 2015), represents yet another example of the expanding impact of patent eligibility challenges in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's Myriad and Prometheus decisions. By this decision, the Federal Circuit appears to be more directly conflating patentability standards like obviousness with patent eligibility in order to strike down inventions that, on their face, appear to cover more than ineligible "natural phenomena." This trend is particularly troubling for the life sciences industry, where innovation necessarily is built on the study of biological properties and interactions that exist in nature. Historically, the prospect of real and enforceable patent protection has incentivized companies to develop life-saving treatments based on the discovery of new ways to impact the biological pathways involved in diseases. However, these incentives are steadily being eroded by the narrowing of patent eligible subject matter....