The U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware issued a final judgment requiring Guardant Health to pay more than $245.2 million to TwinStrand Biosciences and the University of Washington in a dispute involving two patents for DNA sequencing technologies. In November 2023, a jury found that Guardant had willfully infringed the patents, while the court issued its decision on post-trial motions on June 16, 2026.
The amount includes a previous $83.4 million damages award for infringement claims through June 30, 2023, as well as $19.5 million in supplemental damages, $119.4 million in accrued royalties, and $22.9 million in interest. The judgment also imposes ongoing royalties of 6% on sales of 11 covered products and a service until the patents expire in March 2033.
Which products are covered by the judgment?
The products and services listed in the judgment include Guardant360 tests used to help guide cancer treatment, along with older versions of the Guardant Reveal and Guardant Shield tests. Guardant must also provide TwinStrand and the University of Washington with quarterly accounting of U.S. sales of the covered products and services.
Guardant said it will appeal the judgment and that it “strongly disagrees” with the decision while remaining confident that it did not infringe the patents. It added that current versions of Guardant Reveal and Guardant Shield are excluded from the court’s order, and that it had implemented design improvements to Guardant360 and related services intended to exclude the potential impact of royalties.
The technology at issue
The patents concern Duplex Sequencing technology developed by TwinStrand. According to the company, the technology compares both strands of a DNA molecule, increasing sequencing accuracy compared with conventional next-generation sequencing methods and helping detect genetic variants that other approaches may not distinguish.
The technology was invented by Jesse Salk, who was a student at the University of Washington School of Medicine, in collaboration with two academic colleagues. The inventors later founded TwinStrand, which exclusively licenses the patents from the university. Chad Waite, TwinStrand’s chairman, said the judgment confirms that Guardant’s products were built on this innovation without a license.
Why does this judgment matter?
The decision’s impact is not limited to the amount of damages; it imposes continuing financial obligations on sales of diagnostic products used in the context of cancer treatment and makes the scope of the products, versions, and designs a decisive factor in determining the judgment’s practical impact. At the same time, the exclusion of current versions of Guardant Reveal and Guardant Shield, as announced by Guardant, shows that the judgment does not necessarily apply to the company’s entire current portfolio.
Proceedings related to the patents remain ongoing before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, and Guardant’s intention to appeal means the dispute has not been fully resolved procedurally. The source does not establish how the appellate court will handle the judgment or whether the final royalty amount will change.