Guardant Health Inc., an oncology company based in Delaware, sued Natera, Inc. on Thursday over allegations that Natera has led a “campaign of false and misleading advertising,” in regard to Guardant’s product, called the Guardant Reveal liquid biopsy cancer assay (Reveal) for early-stage colorectal cancer (CRC). In its complaint, Guardant demanded a jury trial.
Reveal is reportedly a minimally invasive product that is able to detect “residual and recurrent CRC in about 7 days from a simple blood draw.” This is one of the first products on the market that allows for easier management of early-stage CRC, the plaintiffs claimed. According to the complaint, Natera has a separate product, Signatera, which is a tumor-dependent assay.
The plaintiffs explained that “Natera has undertaken a campaign of misinformation to convince customers, including oncologists and other physicians, cancer researchers, health care institutions, biopharmaceutical companies and genetic laboratories, to avoid using Reveal in favor of Natera’s own Signatera.”
The defendants are said to have misrepresented Reveal, as they describe their product Signatera as one that is superior in sensitivity, failure rate, negative predictive value, and Hazard Ratio. Guardant asserted that they evidence these claims with “outright misrepresentations,” and “scientifically unfounded comparisons,” of the two products.
Based on claims of false advertising, unlawful trade practice, and common law unfair competition, Guardant argued that Natera is in violation of a variety of laws. Through this lawsuit, Guardant is seeking to enjoin Natera from continuing this misrepresentation, requiring Natera to correct all of their misleading claims, and lastly to “recover damages and other relief for the harm that Natera has inflicted on Guardant.” The plaintiff is represented by Norton Rose Fulbright.
