Ariosa Diagnostics, Sequenom diagnostic news

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California denied a motion filed by Sequenom for a preliminary injunction to prevent Ariosa (formerly Aria Diagnostics Inc.) from marketing its Harmony Prenatal Test. Sequenom alleged that the sale of the test infringes its U.S. Patent No. 6,258,540, which covers prenatal diagnosis using nucleic acid analysis used in Sequenom's MaterniT21 Plus laboratory-developed test (LDT) and expires in 2018. The court denied the motion because Ariosa raised a "substantial question" with regard to the validity of the '540 patent. Specifically, Ariosa said that the patent attempts to claim the discovery that fetal DNA is detectable in maternal serum or plasma samples, which the company argues is "unpatentable natural phenomenon." Last December, Ariosa filed an action in the court against Sequenom, seeking declaratory relief that its Harmony test does not infringe any claims of the '540 patent. Sequenom filed a counterclaim asserting that Ariosa infringed the patent. Ariosa called the litigation a "drastic attempt" by Sequenom to bar Ariosa from competing with its Harmony test. Sequenom noted that the denied motion is not a final ruling on the infringement or validity of its patent, and said that the company will seek a full trial on the merits and claims of all relief, including damages and a permanent injunction against Ariosa. ...