Complete Genomics raises $39 million in Series E funding

Complete Genomics announced today that it has raised $39 million in its Series E funding round. New investor Sands Capital led this round of financing and was joined by existing investors Essex Woodlands, OVP Venture Partners, Prospect Venture Partners, OrbiMed Advisors, Highland Capital and Enterprise Partners.

“We continue to make strong business progress. In July, we delivered sequencing data for more than 100 genomes to our customers. We continue to actively sell our CGATM Service and we remain committed to meeting our customers' needs”

Complete Genomics also reported that it is evaluating the lawsuit alleging patent infringement which was filed against it by Illumina, Inc., and Solexa, Inc., an entity acquired by Illumina, on Aug. 3, 2010, in the U.S. District Court in Delaware.

Cliff Reid, Complete Genomics chairman, president and chief executive officer, said, "This lawsuit claims that our Complete Genomics Analysis Platform infringes three patents owned by the plaintiffs. In addition to many non-infringement considerations, it is our understanding that of these three patents, two of them have been put into reexamination at the United States Patent Office and all of the claims have been initially rejected by the Patent Office and await further review. The third of the three patents was also the subject of a reexamination at the Patent Office. While the Patent Office upheld the validity of the only independent method claim in that patent on March 2, 2010, three weeks later, the Federal Circuit affirmed a District Court Order, entered pursuant to Solexa's own stipulation, that the independent method claim in that patent is invalid under the District Court's claim construction. We cannot guarantee any particular outcome, as with any litigation, but we believe that we have substantial and meritorious defenses to the claims and intend to vigorously defend against this lawsuit."

"We continue to make strong business progress. In July, we delivered sequencing data for more than 100 genomes to our customers. We continue to actively sell our CGA^TM Service and we remain committed to meeting our customers' needs," he added.

Source : Complete Genomics