10x escalates genomics patents dispute at the UPC
Biotech hoping for ‘pan-European injunctive relief’ | Vizgen CEO says lawsuits an ‘attempt to undermine innovation’.
On the first day of the court’s opening, 10x Genomics took its patent litigation to Europe’s new Unified Patent Court (UPC) with two lawsuits against rivals Nanostring and Vizgen over spatial biology technology.
In the lawsuits, the California-based biotech firm alleged that Nanostring’s CosMx products for ribonucleic acid (RNA) detection infringe its European patents 2 794 928 B1 and 4 108 782 B1, and that Vizgen’s Merscope products infringe the ‘782 patent.
The patents relate to the in-situ detection of analytes. Through the UPC, 10x is seeking “pan-European injunctive relief against the infringing activities of Nanostring and Vizgen across EU member states that are part of the new system”.
This includes preliminary injunctions against Nanostring’s CosMx Spatial Molecular Imager and CosMx reagents for RNA detection, in the jurisdictions that the patents are in effect.
The ‘928 patent is in effect in Germany, the Netherlands and France, while the ‘782 is present in all UPC member states.
Munich court decision
10x’s bid to enforce the patents through the UPC follows its success in the Munich Regional Court in May. That court found that Nanostring had infringed the ‘928 patent and issued an injunction requiring the firm to cease selling CosMx SMI instruments, and CosMx reagents for RNA detection, in Germany.
This was the first anti-anti-suit/enforcement injunction (AASI) in a German life sciences patent case, according to Bardehle Pagenberg which represented 10x.
The law firm said that Nanostring had attempted to counter the German judgment with an anti-suit/enforcement injunction in US proceedings in Delaware, to which the Munich court granted the AASI upon request of 10x.
In parallel proceedings, Nanostring is challenging the patent’s validity at the German Federal Patent Court. Brad Gray, president and CEO of Nanostring, said: “We respectfully disagree with the recent decision of the Regional Court of Munich.
“Nanostring will continue to pursue all legal avenues to vigorously defend against 10x’s claims. We believe we will be vindicated on appeal in the immediate case and are confident in our arguments before the German Federal Patent Court where we are seeking a ruling to invalidate the patent in the nullity action.”
“Attempt to undermine innovation”
In response to the suits, the president and CEO of Vizgen, Terry Lo, issued an open letter to customers and researchers, in which he described 10x’s lawsuit at the UPC as an attempt “to undermine innovation, eliminate competition and intimidate both customers and industry peers”.
Referencing the ongoing litigation between the firms in the Delaware federal court, Lo said that Vizgen would “bring the same approach and level of resources to the proceedings with the UPC”, and added that he was confident of Vizgen’s ability to operate in the US and Europe.
Lo reiterated Vizgen’s assertion that the patents arose from a public grant given to Harvard College, highlighting that the company was obliged to openly and non-exclusively license the technology it funded.
He noted that the outcomes in the Nanostring lawsuits with 10x had little relevance to the cases between 10x and Vizgen in the US or Europe, because Vizgen’s product Merscope “uses an approach that differs in material ways from Nanostring CosMx’s approach”.
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