Illumina and Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (LabCorp) have announced that on October 5, 2016, the Düsseldorf Regional Federal Court in Germany issued a preliminary injunction order against amedes MVZ Trägergesellschaft Göttingen mbH and a related company (collectively amedes).
The order requires amedes to immediately stop performing the Fetalis non-invasive prenatal screening test in Germany, which is based on technology from Ariosa Diagnostics, Inc.
The Application for the Grant of a Preliminary Injunction against amedes was filed by Sequenom, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of LabCorp®, as patent owner of EP 0 994 963.
The patent relates to the detection of cell-free fetal DNA for non-invasive prenatal screening. Illumina exclusively licenses the patent in the field of in vitro diagnostics.
Illumina and Sequenom have significant intellectual property rights in the area of non-invasive prenatal screening and will continue to enforce those rights when appropriate. This suit adds to prior patent infringement suits filed against others in Europe, Australia and the United States.
Illumina is improving human health by unlocking the power of the genome. Our focus on innovation has established us as the global leader in DNA sequencing and array-based technologies, serving customers in the research, clinical and applied markets.
Laboratory Corporation of America is an S&P 500 company, is the world’s leading healthcare diagnostics company, providing comprehensive clinical laboratory and end-to-end drug development services.