U.S. court orders Guardant to pay $245 million in DNA sequencing patent dispute

A U.S. court has ordered Guardant Health to pay more than $245.2 million to TwinStrand Biosciences and the University of Washington after finding that the company infringed patents covering DNA sequencing technology, TwinStrand said on Monday.

• The U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware entered final judgment on August 21, upholding a 2023 jury verdict that found Guardant had willfully infringed two patents related to TwinStrand's DNA sequencing technology.
• The court ordered Guardant to pay a 6% royalty on U.S. sales of 11 products and services found to infringe the patents until they expire in March 2033.
• The judgment includes $83.4 million in original damages, $19.5 million in supplemental damages, $119.4 million in accrued royalties, and $22.9 million in pre- and post-judgment interest.
• TwinStrand said the products and services covered by the ruling accounted for about 90% 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 sold by Guardant.
• Guardant had sought to overturn the verdict or obtain a new trial, but the court rejected those efforts, TwinStrand said.
• The judgment also upheld the validity of the patent claims at issue, TwinStrand said.
• TwinStrand's Duplex Sequencing technology is designed to detect rare genetic mutations with greater accuracy than conventional DNA sequencing methods.
• TwinStrand said its technology, developed at the University of Washington, is used in cancer research, diagnostics and drug development.