Sequenom targets Ariosa in Australia

Sequenom has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Sonic Healthcare, Australian Clinical Labs and Ariosa Diagnostics at the Australian Federal Court.

The suit targets Sonic and Australian Clinical Labs for their use of the Harmony non-invasive prenatal test (NIPT) which is supplied by Ariosa.

According to Sequenom, the use of the test infringes its Australian patent number 727,919. The patent is directed to a method of detecting paternally inherited cell-free fetal DNA in maternal plasma in pregnant women.

Sequenom has already been fighting a high profile battle with Ariosa in the US over the test and has petitioned the US Supreme Court to hear the dispute.

Dirk van den Boom, president and chief executive of Sequenom, said: “Sequenom established the NIPT market … and has developed pioneering intellectual property in the NIPT testing field.”