Shares of Seattle-based publicly traded biotech company NanoString Technologies fell nearly 50% to an all-time low on Monday following its loss in a patent infringement case against 10x Genomics.
A jury in Delaware reached a unanimous verdict on Friday awarding more than $31 million in damages for 10x Genomics, a Pleasanton, Calif. company that accused NanoString of infringing on seven patents related to NanoString’s GeoMx Digital Spatial Profiler that analyzes RNA and protein.
NanoString said it plans to overturn or amend the verdict, and file an appeal. It plans to continue selling its GeoMX products.
“We remain resolute in our belief that the patents that 10x Genomics has asserted describe a fundamentally different scientific method than that which is used for our GeoMx system,” NanoString President Brad Gray said in a statement on Sunday. “Simply put, we believe the asserted patents are invalid, that we don’t infringe these patents, and that we should be vindicated on appeal.”
NanoString withdrew its full year 2023 and fourth quarter financial guidance due to the litigation outcome.
“10x Genomics has filed multiple patent infringement lawsuits against us and other smaller competitors, a business strategy that we view as attempting to dominate the market to the detriment of scientists,” Gray said in the statement. “NanoString remains steadfast in its commitment to defend the scientific community’s access to our products and researchers’ scientific freedom to select the platforms they need to advance their research.”
10x Genomics previously filed two other patent infringement lawsuits against NanoString, in the European Unified Patent Court and Munich Regional Court, and emerged victorious.
“At some point, NanoString must drop the charade that it is ‘confident’ it does not infringe the 10x patents and the patents are invalid,” Eric Whitaker, chief legal officer at 10x Genomics, said in a statement. “It is essential that 10x protect our patents from those who wrongly and willfully use them so we can advance our mission and continue to innovate and push science forward.”
10x Genomics has a separate patent suit pending against NanoString related to its CosMx Spatial Molecular Imager.
10x Genomics launched in 2012 and went public in 2019. The company, which also sells products that analyze biological systems, was involved in another patent lawsuit against Bio-Rad that settled in 2021.
It reported $153.6 million in revenue for its most recent quarter, up 17% year-over-year, and a net loss of $93 million.
Founded in 2003, NanoString spun out of genomics pioneer Leroy Hood’s Institute for Systems Biology. The company went public in 2013.
It reported $48.1 million in revenue for its most recent quarter, and a net loss of $37.4 million. Shares are down more than 90% over the past year.
The company had just over 700 employees as of Dec. 31. Gray, a former exec at Genzyme Genetics, became NanoString’s CEO in 2010.
