Illumina Sues Oxford Nanopore
The patents were issued in March 2014 and October 2015, respectively, and exclusively licensed to Illumina in 2013 for the field of nucleic acid sequencing, according to the complaint. Launched in May 2015, the portable MinION sequencer, with up to 512 channels for sequencing, is listed on Oxford Nanopore’s website for an instrument access fee of $1,000 and a reagent cost per run of $99. Oxford Nanopore is expected this year to launch an early access program for the benchtop PromethION, which has as many as 3,000 channels.
San Diego, CA 2/23/16; San Diego, CA 2/23/16; Oxford, UK 2/24/16—NGS company Illumina, the University of Washington and the UAB Research Foundation have filed patent infringement suits against Oxford Nanopore Technologies with the US International Trade Commission and the US District Court for the Southern District of California. The suits allege infringement of US Patents Nos. 8,673,550 and 9,170,230 (Msp Nanopores and Related Methods) by Oxford Nanopore’s MinION and PromethION systems. Msp is Mycobacterium smegmatis porin, a type of protein for making nanopores. The court complaint states, “On information and belief, Defendants’ MinION product more likely than not includes Msp porins.” The complaint requests damages and a permanent injunction. In a statement, Oxford Nanopore CEO Dr. Gordon Sanghera wrote, “It is gratifying to have the commercial relevance of Oxford Nanopore products so publicly acknowledged by the market monopolist for NGS.” The company expects no disruption to its commercialization progress.
