NEW YORK – Qiagen has filed a patent lawsuit against Zymo Research, alleging that one of the firm's products infringes on its intellectual property related to magnetic bead-based sample preparation of extracellular nucleic acids from cell-free or cell-depleted samples.
The technology is used to isolate circulating cell-free DNA from samples, typically prior to PCR and sequencing applications.
The lawsuit, filed last month with the US District Court for the Central District of California, claims that Zymo's MAGicBead cfDNA Isolation Kit infringes on Qiagen's US patents No. 10,184,145 and No. 11,021,736, which cover technologies incorporated into the QiaSymphony PAXgene Blood ccfDNA Kit and QiaAmp MinElute ccfDNA Kit.
Issued in January 2019 and June 2021, both patents are entitled "Rapid method for isolating extracellular nucleic acids" and have similar claims.
In its complaint, Qiagen claimed that it sent a letter to Zymo regarding the alleged '145 and '736 infringement in November 2023 and that Zymo has since continued to sell the MAGicBead cfDNA product.
Qiagen has demanded a jury trial and requested damages, a permanent injunction against further infringement, and increased damages due to Zymo's alleged "willful, egregious, and bad-faith misconduct."
Founded in Irvine, California, in 1994, Zymo Research offers DNA and RNA extraction and purification reagents and kits as well as epigenetics products. It also provides next-generation sequencing services, library prep, and sample collection products, as well as microbial standards.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, Zymo said it respects intellectual property rights and is confident that its isolation technology represents a significant advancement in nucleic acid purification.
"Our MAGic cfDNA purification system is a groundbreaking innovation," Larry Jia, founder and CEO of Zymo Research, said in the statement. "While this legal challenge places a significant burden on our resources as a small company, our commitment to the scientific community is stronger than ever."
Zymo formed a partnership last year with Opentrons Labworks to develop an automated cfDNA workflow using the MAGicBead cfDNA Isolation Kit.