Biotechnology companies that have staked lucrative claims to parts of the human genetic sequence were on Thursday dealt a blow by the High Court in a decision that may set a higher threshold for intellectual property protection.

In the first UK case to examine how “bioinformatics” – the use of powerful computer programmes to work out the relationship between the human genome and the design of new drugs – affects patentability, the court revoked a patent held by Human Genome Sciences on a disease-linked protein known as “neutrokine-alpha”.