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Counsyl Raises $28M, Launches BRCA1/2 Testing

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Genetic testing firm Counsyl today announced it raised $28 million in a Series D financing, and it has launched its BRACA1 and BRCA2 screening service.

The financing was co-led by Rosemont Seneca Technology Partners and Goldman Sachs Asset Management and brings the total amount raised by South San Francisco, Calif.-based Counsyl to $93 million, it said. The company will use the funds for product development.

The company also announced the launch of its Inherited Cancer Screen service, starting with the BRCA1/2 genes. The launch comes about seven months after Counsyl sought declaratory judgment from a California federal court that it wouldn't infringe on Myriad Genetics' BRCA1/2 patent claims if it offered testing for the genes. The company said that several claims in Myriad's patents had been invalidated by the US Supreme Court and by the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, giving Counsyl the right to test for BRCA gene alterations associated with the hereditary risk of breast and ovarian cancer.

The lawsuit has been centralized into one action that includes litigation by Quest Diagnostics and InVitae, which also sought judgments against Myriad that they don't infringe Myriad's patents. The case has been transferred to the US District Court for the District of Utah.

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