NEW YORK – 10x Genomics said on Tuesday that it has been awarded a preliminary injunction by the new European Unified Patent Court that will prevent NanoString Technologies from selling its CosMx high-resolution spatial biology platform and associated RNA detection reagents in Europe.
According to 10x, the injunction — issued by a panel of four judges — requires NanoString to stop selling or providing services using the CosMx Spatial Molecular Imager instrument and RNA detection reagents in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, and Sweden.
"A patent holder must meet a very high standard to win a preliminary injunction," 10x Chief Legal Officer Eric Whitaker said in a statement. "Two separate courts have now found that NanoString's CosMx products infringe two different 10x patents, and three separate courts have preliminarily found the 10x patents valid in the asserted scope."
NanoString CEO Brad Gray said in a statement that he was "disappointed" with the decision and that the firm will immediately appeal it. He noted that the ruling does not affect the firm's ability to sell CosMx products for protein detection.
The decision follows a May ruling from a German patent court that NanoString's CosMx infringes a European patent held by 10x and an injunction against selling instruments, reagents, and services in that country.
NanoString said that as of Aug. 31, less than 10 percent of its CosMx instrument order backlog was from the European countries impacted by the new injunction. The firm reiterated its revenue guidance for 2023 of $175 million to $185 million.
10x also said that on Sept. 7, the US District Court for the District of Delaware ruled against NanoString in a suit alleging the GeoMx Digital Spatial Profiler infringes other patents held by 10x, striking several of NanoString's defenses.
In Tuesday trading on the Nasdaq, shares of NanoString tumbled 12 percent to $1.50.