Final judgement favours TwinStrand in Guardant patent case
TwinStrand Biosciences, a pioneer in Duplex Sequencing technology, has announced that the US District Court for the District of Delaware entered final judgement on 21st August, in favour of TwinStrand and the University of Washington in their patent infringement suit against Guardant Health, Inc.
Seattle-based TwinStrand is a precision genomics company advancing highly accurate DNA sequencing through its patented TwinStrand Duplex Sequencing technology, originally developed at the University of Washington. Duplex Sequencing achieves more than 10,000-fold greater accuracy than conventional next-generation sequencing by independently sequencing and comparing both complementary strands of each DNA molecule.
The final judgement preserves a November 2023 jury verdict finding that Guardant Health willfully infringed two core patents underlying TwinStrand's Duplex Sequencing technology across 11 royalty-bearing products and services, and awards TwinStrand and the University of Washington more than $245.2 million in damages, accrued royalties, and interest for infringement that occurred through 31st May 2026.
The judgement upholds the jury’s $83.4 million damages award for infringement through 30th June 2023, and follows the court’s 16th June 2026 ruling resolving the parties’ post-trial motions. The court awarded an additional $19.5 million in supplemental damages for sales between 1st July 2023 and 5th February 2024, and $119.4 million in accrued royalties at a rate of 6% for sales between 5th February 2024 and 31st May 2026.
The court also awarded $22.9 million in pre-judgement and post-judgement interest. In determining past damages, the jury applied a 6% royalty to revenue attributed to the covered products and services, which represented approximately 90% of Guardant Health's total revenue during the relevant infringement period.
Going forward, the court has ordered Guardant Health to pay this 6% royalty on sales of the covered products and services adjudicated at trial from 1st June 2026 through expiration of the patents on 15th March 2033, payable quarterly. Interest also continues to accrue on the unpaid judgement.
"Duplex Sequencing solved an accuracy problem the sequencing field had worked on for years, and this judgement affirms the jury’s finding that Guardant Health built products on that invention without a license,” said Chad Waite, Chair of TwinStrand’s Board of Directors. “We remained steadfast in our conviction that the facts would prevail, and they have. We intend to see this through and stand firmly behind the intellectual property at the core of our technology.”
The court previously denied Guardant Health’s post-trial efforts to overturn the verdict or obtain a new trial. All of Guardant Health’s counterclaims against TwinStrand were either dismissed by the court or withdrawn by Guardant Health before trial.
The final judgement also upholds the validity of the asserted claims of both TwinStrand patents at issue in the case, US Patent Nos. 10,287,631 and 10,760,127. In doing so, the court adopted TwinStrand’s proposed language on validity over Guardant Health’s proposal that no judgement on validity be entered. Patent-related proceedings regarding the patents remain ongoing before the US Patent and Trademark Office and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, respectively, and neither patent has been invalidated.
“We have been confident in these patents since the day they issued,” Waite added. “The court’s decision to enter judgement in our favour on validity is particularly meaningful and reinforces the strength of our intellectual property at the core of Duplex Sequencing. We will continue to defend these patents and the innovation they protect for the researchers and clinicians worldwide who rely on the accuracy our technology makes possible.”
