Foundation Medicine Receives Patent

Foundation Medicine, Inc. has announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued U.S. patent number 9,340,830, entitled, "Optimization of Multigene Analysis of Tumor Samples." The patent, which is assigned to Foundation Medicine, includes fundamental claims describing methods of analyzing a cancer patient's tissue or blood specimen to detect multiple classes of genomic alterations.

The patent carries a term extending to 2032. The company is also pursuing patent applications covering aspects of its genomic analysis platform with the European Patent Office and in other jurisdictions outside the United States. "Foundation Medicine has been at the leading edge of innovation in genomic analysis of cancer since our inception six years ago," said Michael Pellini, M.D, chief executive officer for Foundation Medicine.

"We believe this patent both acknowledges our pioneering efforts in research and development, and, importantly, it demonstrates our expertise in translating innovation into clinically validated, best-in-class assays that benefit cancer patients around the world. We are gratified that our contributions to the clinical and scientific communities are enabling new genomic analysis products in the fight against cancer."

Dr. Pellini continued, "We believe patients and their physicians should have access to the full complement of test offerings that, when used appropriately, can meaningfully guide and inform treatment plans. We plan to evaluate strategies to maximize the value of this patent and our other intellectual property. That said, in leveraging this asset, we do not intend to block the use of methods covered by the patent in patient testing that may be offered by others. We are pleased with the issuance of this patent to strengthen Foundation Medicine's intellectual property position and reinforce our overall leadership in transforming cancer care."