NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Streck said today that the European Patent Office earlier this month upheld a European patent it holds on blood collection tubes for noninvasive prenatal testing, following opposition proceedings by Roche.
In addition, the La Vista, Nebraska-based firm said that in December, a district court in Mannheim, Germany, found that Cenata, a German company that offers Roche's Ariosa Diagnostics Harmony NIPT and had been using Roche-branded blood collection tubes from Ariosa, infringes Streck's patent, European Patent No. 2228453B1, "Preservation of fetal nucleic acids in maternal plasma."
Cenata has appealed the decision, according to Streck, and the firm expects an appeal to the EPO proceedings, as well.
"The separate decisions by the Mannheim Court and the EPO each reinforce the value of the Streck proprietary technologies and that infringement will not be tolerated," Streck CEO Connie Ryan said in a statement.
Streck filed the lawsuit against Cenata a year ago, claiming that firm infringes its patent.