Dive Brief:
- A U.S. district court has ordered Guardant Health to pay more than $245.2 million to TwinStrand Biosciences and the University of Washington in a patent infringement dispute over DNA sequencing technology.
- The final judgment includes a jury’s $83.4 million damages award for infringement claims through June 30, 2023, and follows the court’s June 16, 2026, ruling resolving post-trial motions. Guardant also must pay ongoing 6% royalties on sales of 11 products and services covered in the judgment through the expiration of patents in March 2033, TwinStrand said in a Monday announcement.
- Guardant said Monday it would appeal the judgment from the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware. The diagnostic test maker said in a statement that it “strongly disagrees” with the decision and remains confident it did not infringe the patents.
Dive Insight:
The final judgment upholds a November 2023 jury verdict that found Guardant willfully infringed two core patents for TwinStrand sequencing methods.
TwinStrand’s Duplex Sequencing technology achieves greater accuracy than conventional next-generation sequencing by comparing both strands of a DNA molecule to detect genetic variants that other methods often cannot distinguish, according to the genomics company.
The sequencing methods were invented by then-medical student Jesse Salk at the University of Washington and two of his academic colleagues. Salk and his co-inventors founded TwinStrand, which exclusively licenses the patents from the university.
"Duplex Sequencing solved an accuracy problem the sequencing field had worked on for years, and this judgment affirms the jury’s finding that Guardant Health built products on that invention without a license,” TwinStrand Chair Chad Waite said in a statement.
Guardant’s products and services covered in the judgment include Guardant360 tests used to guide cancer treatment and older versions of Guardant Reveal and Shield.
In addition to the jury’s damage award and the ongoing royalties, the judgment’s tally includes $19.5 million in supplemental damages, $119.4 million in accrued royalties and $22.9 million in interest. Guardant must also provide TwinStrand and the University of Washington with a quarterly accounting of U.S. sales of the products and services in the judgment.
Guardant, in its statement, said current Guardant Reveal and Shield products are excluded from the court order, and it has validated design improvements to Guardant360 and related services to exclude the impact of potential royalties.
TwinStrand said patent-related proceedings before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board are continuing.
“We will continue to defend these patents and the innovation they protect for the researchers and clinicians worldwide who rely on the accuracy our technology makes possible,” Waite said.
