After a $272.5 million jury verdict against LabCorp, Desmarais LLP won an additional $100 million in enhanced damages for its client Ravgen, a Maryland-based biotech company, and its non-invasive prenatal genetic testing technology.
The May 12, 2023 ruling detailed Ravgen’s efforts to license its innovation to LabCorp. Ravgen’s founder developed the breakthrough method in the early 2000s that screens cell-free fetal DNA in maternal blood, which can reveal gender and chromosomal conditions, such as Down syndrome, as early as 10 weeks of pregnancy.
“The Court finds that this case is egregious and therefore enhancement is warranted,” Judge Alan Albright wrote. The ruling added: “Labcorp was well aware of Dr. Dhallan’s invention and the ’277 Patent before launching its infringing MaterniT21 PLUS, MaterniT Genome, and informaSeq tests. It is undisputed that Labcorp knew of the ’277 Patent by at least December 2010, before Labcorp sold any NIPTs [non-invasive prenatal tests].”
At the conclusion of a one-week trial in September 2022, the jury returned a full plaintiff's verdict, finding that LabCorp had willfully infringed Ravgen's technology, and awarded Ravgen its full royalty request of $100 for each infringing unit, totaling $272.5 million in damages through trial. Labcorp had sold more than 2.7 million units during the relevant time period, and Desmarais LLP sought enhanced damages on Ravgen’s behalf.
“Well after this lawsuit began, Labcorp continued to make hundreds of millions of dollars by selling the infringing tests while doing nothing to avoid infringement,” Judge Albright wrote in the May 12, 2023 ruling. “By 2021, Labcorp was selling more than 500,000 infringing tests every year. Sales kept rising, so Labcorp kept selling despite knowing that it infringes. Labcorp will sell more than 600,000 units and $250 million of the infringing tests by the end of 2022.”
Desmarais LLP also won a clean sweep defeating all inter partes review challenges filed against Ravgen’s patents before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, which issued its final ruling on April 18, 2023. The PTAB proceedings include ten IPR petitions, eight instituted IPRs, five oral arguments, and six final written decisions. In each decision, the PTAB found that all challenged claims in Ravgen’s patents were patentable. Desmarais LLP has also secured settlements for Ravgen related to this technology with Illumina, PerkinElmer and Quest Diagnostics.
The Desmarais LLP team representing Ravgen includes partners John Desmarais, Kerri-Ann Limbeek, Gabrielle Higgins, Yung-Hoon (Sam) Ha, and Brian Matty; of counsel Theodoros Konstantakopoulos; and associates Benjamin Luehrs, Kyle Petrie, Joze Welsh, Jun Tong, Deborah Mariottini, Frederick Ding, and Peter Zhu.
Law360 – “Ravgen's Prenatal Test Patent Win Boosted To $372M”
ALM/Law.com - "Litigator of the Week Runners-Up and Shout Outs" (subscription required)
GenomeWeb – “Labcorp Ordered to Pay Ravgen Another $100M in Patent Lawsuit” (subscription required)
IAM – "Ravgen assertion campaign highlights problems with US patent reforms" (subscription required)
Accolades
Managing IP has honored Desmarais LLP as the Intellectual Property Boutique Firm of the Year and John Desmarais, founding partner of Desmarais LLP, as the Litigator of the Year (New...
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