Interleukin Genetics is among eight companies being sued by Genetics Technologies for alleged patent infringement, according to an 8-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and a story on massdevice.com.
In a complaint filed February 11 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin, the Australian company accused Interleukin and the other companies -- including Beckman Coulter -- of violating U.S. Patent No. 5,612,179, "Intron Sequence Analysis Method for Detection of Adjacent Locus Alleles as Haplotypes," which was granted to Genetics Technologies in 1997.
Genetics Technologies alleges that Interleukin's PST susceptibility test for periodontal gum disease violates the '179 patent, according to massdevice.com.
Interleukin claims the PST test is the first and only genetic test that analyzes two interleukin 1 genes for variations that identify an individual's predisposition for overexpression of inflammation and risk for periodontal disease.
Interleukin reportedly has yet to be served with the complaint, according to regulatory documents filed with the SEC. However, the company said it was approached by Genetics Technologies on the day it filed suit and offered Interleukin a draft license agreement in exchange for a "yet undetermined fee," according to the filing.
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