Why Is Cancer Blood Test-Focused Guardant Health Stock Trading Lower Today?

Guardant Health Inc GH shares are falling after the company announced it intends to appeal its verdict in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware related to patent right claims brought against Guardant by TwinStrand Biosciences Inc. and the University of Washington, regarding cancer-testing kits.

"We strongly disagree with this decision and will vigorously appeal for its overturn," said Helmy Eltoukhy, Guardant Health co-founder and co-CEO. "We believe the ruling ignores the strengths and merits of our R&D and intellectual property, which we painstakingly developed for over a decade."

Guardant says it did not infringe the asserted patents, and the company expects to file additional motions with the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware and appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Tuesday, after a trial, the jury found that Guardant Health willfully infringed two U.S. Patent Nos. 10,287,631 and 10,760,127, and awarded Plaintiffs $83.4 million in damages, representing a 6% royalty on past sales. 

The company expects the district court to enter judgment on the jury's verdict in the coming weeks. 

The Plaintiffs may seek to enhance the damages award up to three times based on the jury's finding of willful infringement. 

TwinStrand licenses the University of Washington patents for its Duplex Sequencing platform, Reuters noted. Their lawsuit against Guardant, filed in 2021, said that the patented technology allows cancer detection and monitoring by analyzing blood plasma without needing tumor biopsies.

The complaint called the patented technology "an elusive feat that previous sequencing methods could not achieve."

Price Action: Guardant Health shares are down 6.37% at $22.93 on the last check Wednesday.