NEW YORK – Qiagen announced on Tuesday that the German Federal Patent Court has ruled in its favor regarding a patent infringement lawsuit it filed against SD Biosensor.
The patent in question — namely, the German part of European Patent EP 3,421,997 — covers aspects of Qiagen's QuantiFeron technology used in its blood-based latent tuberculosis test systems. The firm's technological innovations related to TB detection are covered by patents issued to Qiagen in several countries, it said in a statement, forming a collection of more than 120 patents currently issued for QuantiFeron.
People with dormant TB infections remain at risk of developing active infection. Screening and treating latent TB can prevent this, thus reducing spread of the disease.
Qiagen's QuantiFeron-TB Gold Plus is an interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA) that can be used in place of traditional skin testing to help control TB. The assay is recommended by the World Health Organization and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for identifying individuals at risk of developing active tuberculosis, Qiagen said in a statement.
In 2023, the firm settled a patent dispute with Bio-Rad over digital PCR technology, and in September, Qiagen filed a patent infringement lawsuit in the US against Zymo Research related to magnetic bead-based sample prep of extracellular nucleic acids from cell-free or cell-depleted samples. Zymo subsequently filed counterclaims denying all allegations.
"Qiagen will continue to invest heavily into novel solutions while also vigorously defending its innovations and investments," the firm's CEO Thierry Bernard said in a statement.