A federal court denied Sequenom's preliminary injunction against Ariosa Diagnostics, a move aimed to stop the latter firm from selling its Harmony prenatal test, a Down syndrome-related diagnostic.
Sequenom is suing Ariosa over the test, saying that it infringes on the company's patent for MaterniT21 Plus. While litigation is pending, Sequenom filed a preliminary injunction in February to halt Ariosa from profiting off the diagnostic while the case was under consideration.
For its part, Ariosa says the suit is baseless, and the judge's ruling is vindicating as the company fights "Sequenom's drastic attempt to bar Ariosa from competing with our Harmony [p]renatal [t]est," CEO Ken Song said in a statement.
As GenomeWeb reports, both kits test for the condition Trisomy 21, which has been linked to Down syndrome. Sequenom launched MaterniT21 Plus first, in October, followed by Ariosa marketing Harmony in May. However, Ariosa's test goes for $795 a pop, cheaper than Sequenom's $1,900 kit, and Ariosa has inked a deal with LabCorp to get Harmony in the firm's more than 1,000 labs nationwide.
- read Ariosa's release
- get more from GenomeWeb (reg. req.)