By Diagnostics World News Staff
March 26, 2019 | CareDx today announced that it has filed a patent infringement suit against Natera in the United States District Court for Delaware. CareDx is asserting U.S. Patent Nos. 9,845,497 and 8,703,652, that are exclusively licensed to CareDx from Stanford University. Stanford is joined in the suit as a necessary party because it is the registered owner of these patents. These patents cover non-invasive monitoring of organ transplant rejection through cell-free DNA analysis. CareDx is seeking all available remedies, including damages and injunctive relief. The suit asserts that Natera infringes through its marketing and performance of a test to analyze cell-free DNA from a transplant patient to inform rejection.
"If intellectual property is disrespected, it is the transplant community that is impacted," Peter Maag, CEO of CareDx, said in an official statement. "The intellectual property behind AlloSure was developed with substantial involvement from leading transplant researchers. We are filing this suit to support future innovation in transplantation. We will continue to monitor activities in the transplant field and vigorously defend our intellectual property where appropriate to protect our substantial investments and leadership position."
CareDx has been continuing research and development in transplantation for 20 years, and secured an exclusive license to the technology when it acquired ImmunMetrix in 2014.