Guardant Health ordered to pay $245mn in DNA sequencing patent dispute

A US federal court has ordered Guardant Health (GH) to pay more than $245.2mn to TwinStrand Biosciences and the University of Washington after finding the cancer diagnostics company had infringed patents covering DNA sequencing technology.

The US District Court for the District of Delaware entered final judgment in late August, upholding a 2023 jury verdict that found Guardant had willfully infringed two patents related to TwinStrand's Duplex Sequencing technology, which is designed to detect rare genetic mutations with greater accuracy than conventional DNA sequencing methods and is used in cancer research, diagnostics and drug development.

The judgment comprises $83.4mn in original damages, $19.5mn in supplemental damages, $119.4mn in accrued royalties, and $22.9mn in pre- and post-judgment interest. The court also ordered Guardant to pay a 6 per cent royalty on US sales of 11 products and services found to infringe the patents until their expiry in March 2033. TwinStrand said the affected products and services accounted for approximately 90 per cent of Guardant's revenue during the infringement period.

The products covered by the ruling include Guardant360 CDx, Guardant Reveal, the Shield cancer test and several other cancer testing and genomics services. Guardant noted that updated versions of Guardant Reveal and Shield are excluded from the order and potential future royalties.

The court rejected Guardant's efforts to overturn the verdict or secure a new trial, and separately upheld the validity of the patent claims at issue.

John Saia, Guardant's chief legal officer, said the company "strongly disagrees" with the decision and would "promptly be appealing for its overturn," adding that it remained confident it would prevail. TwinStrand's technology was originally developed at the University of Washington.