Patent Law

The following is excerpted from a January 25, 2010 blog post by Jim Edwards at BNET Pharma:

What if Sequenom (SQNM)?s Down Syndrome test doesn?t exist in any meaningful form? That is the question raised by a lawsuit filed against the company by Xenomics, which licensed a patent for the test to Sequenom and now wants its property ? and a bunch of money ? back.

Back story: In September 2009, Sequenom revealed the data for its non-invasive Down Syndrome test was ?inadequately substantiated.? The CEO and six other execs were kicked out. The company is currently under investigation by the SEC and the FBI. One of the departing execs was sued for alleged insider trading prior to the release of bad news. Sequenom was No. 2 among BNET?s Worst Drug Companies of 2009. Sequenom has since started from scratch. The company told investors on its Q3 2009 conference call that it had just begun the process: ?we are currently collecting samples, which will only be ultimately used when we have an assay that is ready for such studies.?

Xenomics? suit strongly hints that it believes Sequenom now cannot possibly develop such a test, and may never have been able to in the first place. The complaint claims that ?Defendant maintained the charade that it had valid testing procedures,? calls Sequenom?s representations about the test ?fraudulent,? and uses the term ?non-existence? to describe it

Read the full blog post and access a link to the complaint here.