Guardant Health ordered to pay over $245 million for patent infringement

A U.S. District Court in Delaware entered a final order confirming that Guardant Health willfully infringed patents covering Duplex Sequencing, a method that boosts DNA-sequencing accuracy by more than 10,000-fold. The infringement spanned eleven diagnostic offerings, such as Guardant360, Guardant Reveal and Guardant Shield, leading to a total judgment of $245.2 million, which comprises $83.4 million in damages, $119.4 million in royalties, $22.9 million in interest and $19.5 million in supplemental damages.

TwinStrand Biosciences, a Seattle-based biotech spun out of the University of Washington in 2015 and co-founded by Jesse Salk, will receive the payment and a continuing 6 % royalty on applicable products until the patents lapse in March 2033. The company’s investors include Madrona Venture Group, Soleus Capital and Section 32, which led a $50 million Series B round in 2021. Guardant Health’s chief legal officer, John Saia, said the firm will promptly appeal, asserting confidence in its own IP and noting that newer versions of its tests are excluded from the royalty scope. The ruling also bars Guardant from collecting royalties on products that were discontinued or upgraded after the trial.