NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) — Premaitha Health said today that it has filed a defense and counterclaim in response to Illumina's patent infringement lawsuit against the firm in the UK.
Illumina filed its lawsuit in March in the High Court of Justice, Chancery Division, Patents Court in the UK, claiming that Premaitha infringes two of its patents around the use of cell-free fetal DNA for noninvasive prenatal testing, European Patent (UK) 0 994 963 B2 and European Patent (UK) 1 981 995 B1.
"We have looked at the legal position very carefully and, in our view, the claims are without substance," said Premaitha CEO Stephen Little in a statement.
Premaitha launched its CE-marked in vitro diagnostic Iona test for noninvasive prenatal aneuploidy screening earlier this year and has been providing it to several institutions in Europe for in-house use.