By Diagnostics World News
November 8, 2017 | Caris Life Sciences has filed a patent infringement suit against Foundation Medicine in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts Boston Division. Caris is seeking damages and other relief for Foundation's willful infringement of Caris' patent rights by its FoundationOne, FoundationACT and FoundationOne Heme products.
According to the complaint, Foundation Medicine infringes five U.S. Patents (Nos. 8,880,350; 9,372,193; 9,383,365; 9,092,392; and 9,292,660) held by Caris. The patents cover Caris' novel system of performing molecular profiling of tumors to identify treatment options based on groups of molecular targets not traditionally or conventionally associated with various types of cancer. The system generates a molecular profiling report, which the treating physician may then use to develop a personalized treatment plan for the patient.
"Before Caris' tumor profiling invention, cancer treatment was based on a defined list of therapy options conventionally associated with a tumor's tissue of origin," said Russ Farr, J.D., Senior Vice President and General Counsel for Caris Life Sciences in a statement announcing the suit. "We have invested heavily in the development of our innovative technology for precision medicine because we strongly believe, and have demonstrated, that the molecular findings identified with tumor profiling can be utilized to provide cancer patients viable therapeutic options. We intend to vigorously defend our intellectual property and investment and take action against those who violate it."
The company’s Caris Molecular Intelligence test suite provides relevant, clinically actionable, and individualized treatment information to personalize cancer care for all solid tumors, David Spetzler, President and CSO of Caris Life Sciences, told Diagnostics World last May. Then, Spetzler said that the molecular profiling business had tested over 110,000 cancer patients. Six months later, the complaint puts that number at “more than 123,000 clinical cases.”
Caris Life Sciences is represented by Fish & Richardson in this case. To view a copy of the complaint, click here.