Guardant says jury unanimously found in favor of company in Natera suit

Guardant Health (GH) announced that a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California unanimously found in favor of Guardant Health on all of its claims from its May 2021 lawsuit against Natera, Inc. (NTRA) for false advertising and unfair competition. The jury awarded $292.5M to Guardant Health, including $175.5M in punitive damages, representing one of the largest false advertising verdicts in history. The jury unanimously rejected all of Natera’s counterclaims. The jury found that Natera engaged in a deliberate campaign to mislead cancer clinicians about Guardant Reveal – Guardant Health’s tissue-free minimal residual disease test for early-stage colorectal cancer – in favor of Signatera, Natera’s competing product. “Today’s unanimous verdict holding Natera responsible for engaging in illegal and anticompetitive conduct represents a major victory for CRC patients who could benefit from our groundbreaking Reveal test, and we thank the jury and the Court for their careful consideration of our claims,” said John Saia, Chief Legal Officer at Guardant Health. “Every company in the cancer diagnostics space has a duty to prioritize patients above all else. In keeping with our mission to help cancer patients lead longer and healthier lives, we strongly believe it is vital that clinicians receive accurate, complete, and truthful information to inform their decisions about potentially life-saving patient treatments.”