NanoString, Fluidigm To Settle Lawsuits In U.S And Singapore - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - NanoString Technologies, Inc. (NSTG) and Fluidigm Corp. (FLDM) Tuesday announced agreement to settle lawsuits filed by Fluidigm in the U.S and Singapore.

In the U.S. case, Fluidigm charged NanoString with false advertising, unfair competition, and unlawful trade practices based on a comparison study of NanoString's Single Cell Gene Expression Assay.

The lawsuit in Singapore was based on the same study and contained similar allegations. NanoString has denied the allegations in both lawsuits.

In 2012, NanoString conducted a study for testing the performance of its two-step nCounter Single Cell Gene Expression protocol relative to a one-step protocol for Single Cell Gene Expression on the Fluidigm BioMark system.

When the results were published, NanoString referred to a one-step BioMark protocol described in Nature Protocols 2011. Meanwhile, Fluidigm had introduced a two-step BioMark protocol which has improved sensitivity relative to its one-step BioMark protocol.

Fluidigm objected to NanoString's comparison of the two-step nCounter Single Cell Gene Expression protocol with the one-step BioMark protocol. In NanoString's opinion, the study was scientifically valid and presented in a transparent and fair manner.