This article was updated to include a comment from Natera.
NEW YORK – Shares of CareDx slid on Wednesday after Natera asked for an injunction against the firm in an ongoing patent suit and CareDx reiterated its position that its AlloSure test does not infringe Natera's patent.
On Tuesday, Natera filed a motion in the US District Court for the District of Delaware for a permanent injunction against CareDx, alleging that CareDx had infringed on US Patent No. 11,111,544, which covers methods of cleaning noisy genetic data and determining chromosome copy number.
In a statement on Wednesday, CareDx said it no longer uses the process covered by the '544 patent in its AlloSure test, having developed a new process that does not infringe on Natera's patent.
"We believe the motion against a process that is no longer in effect is irrelevant, and the District Court is still considering the fundamental question of the validity of the '544 patent," said John Hanna, president and CEO of CareDx.
"Natera's motion does not impact CareDx's business or ability to continue providing transplant patients with AlloSure or AlloMap" tests, the firm wrote.
A spokesperson for Natera said in an email that Natera is "seeking injunctive relief through the Court to ensure that CareDx does not sell its infringing product in the United States. This is part of ongoing litigation and follows a jury verdict in January that CareDx infringed Natera’s patents and that awarded Natera with $96 million in past damages and royalties."
Last year in the same case, a jury in the US District Court for the District of Delaware awarded Natera approximately $96.2 million in damages after determining that CareDx had infringed the '544 patent but not US patent No. 10,655,180. Both patents cover aspects of Natera's Panorama noninvasive prenatal testing assay technology.
In Wednesday afternoon trading on the Nasdaq, shares of CareDx were down about 15 percent at $13.72.