Illumina sued Redwood Metropolis-based Guardant Well being and its co-founders Helmy Eltoukhy and AmirAli Talasaz final week on grounds that they used Illumina’s mental property to file patents for Guardant, and did so whereas Eltoukhy was nonetheless on payroll at Illumina. The San Diego firm needs the patents that Guardant filed turned over to them.
Guardant Well being is a liquid biopsy firm whose FDA-approved assessments assist information remedy choices for sufferers with superior most cancers. The corporate’s final aim is to detect most cancers at its earliest stage that may result in therapeutic or different intervention, which in flip would increase probabilities of long run survival for most cancers sufferers.
Based on the lawsuit that Illumina filed, again in 2008 and 2009 respectively, Eltoukhy and Talasaz joined the molecular diagnostics and DNA sequencing firm. Every signed a contract that mentioned they might adhere to a number of phrases throughout employment that included amongst different issues the next: not competing with Illumina, shield Illumina’s confidential and proprietary info, and return Illumina supplies to the corporate upon termination of their employment.
Nonetheless, in 2011, whereas each have been employed at Illumina, Eltoukhy and Talasaz based Guardant Well being, the lawsuit alleged. Illumina claims that the 2 drew on Illumina’s mental property and inside firm info to create Guardant’s expertise. The next yr in June 2012, Talasaz left Illumina to work at Guardant full time.
Illumina says that two days after Talasaz’s remaining day at Illumina, Eltoukhy requested a coworker for info not associated to his challenge at Illumina, however that included Illumina’s confidential mental property, and despatched the data to his gmail handle earlier than forwarding them to Talasaz at Guardant. Along with allegedly sharing confidential info, Eltoukhy used Illumina’s tools to file patents on behalf of Guardant, in accordance with the swimsuit.
Additional, when Eltoukhy left Illumina in January 2013, he took 51,000 emails owned by Illumina, 1,400 of which have been labeled confidential and for inside use solely, in accordance with the swimsuit. Illumina says he didn’t disclose that he had taken the gadgets when he left.
Apparently, Illumina remained unaware he had finished so till 2019 when it acquired a discovery request pertaining to 2 different lawsuits: Guardant Well being v. Private Genome Diagnostics [No. 1:17-cv-01623-LPS-CJB (D. Del.)] and Guardant Well being Inc. v. Basis Drugs [No. 1:17-cv-01616-LPS-CJB (D. Del.)]. In the midst of complying with the authorized request, Illumina discovered Eltoukhy had stored the 51,000 emails, together with the 1,400 confidential ones, the lawsuit mentioned. Illumina is asking for damages tied to commerce secret misappropriation, correction of inventorship, and breach of contract. Illumima is in search of unspecified damages for Guardant’s and its founders’ actions.
When requested for remark, a Guardant spokeswoman didn’t initially reply to the allegations, as a substitute forwarding a press release elevating some extent of rivalry between the 2 corporations: Guardant claims Illumina is suing to attempt to stomp out competitors. In truth, the corporate that was spawned from Illumina, one which it subsequently acquired — Grail — is in direct competitors with a few of Guardant’s merchandise.
“Almost a decade after these patents have been filed, Illumina’s lawsuit frivolously challenges our possession and authorship of our mental property, which is the spine of our important work. We imagine Illumina is utilizing the courts to retaliate towards us for registering issues in regards to the antitrust implications of Illumina’s acquisition of Grail – one other supplier of blood-based most cancers assessments – and in an try to gradual us down within the market as we get able to launch our blood check to display screen for early indicators of colorectal most cancers,” mentioned John Saia, SVP, common counsel, and company secretary of Guardant, in a press release issued final week after Illumina sued.
Nonetheless, when pressed additional on the validity of Illumina’s claims that the 2 executives exchanged Illumina’s confidential info when Eltoukhy was nonetheless employed at Illumina, the spokeswoman responded:
“We aren’t going to touch upon particular allegations at the moment,” mentioned Michele Relaxation, a spokeswoman with Guardant in an electronic mail. “I want to reiterate that no Illumina commerce secrets and techniques or confidential info have been used to develop Guardant Well being’s industry-leading assays.”
Regardless of their spat, it seems that the 2 corporations plan to proceed working collectively for now.
“Our long-term provide settlement with Illumina stays in drive and our work for sufferers is not going to be interrupted,” Saia mentioned within the assertion. “Nonetheless, we can not stand by and permit unfair practices within the market or false claims to be made about our mental property, which we are going to vigorously defend. The stakes are too excessive for the most cancers sufferers who depend on our vital work.”
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