Johns Hopkins Sues LabCorp for Cancer Screen Patent License Fees

Johns Hopkins University sued Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings in Delaware, claiming the medical testing giant is stiffing it on license fees for the patent that makes a popular colon cancer screening kit work.

The Chancery Court lawsuit also targets LabCorp subsidiary Esoterix Genetic Laboratories LLC, which sublicenses the Johns Hopkins patents for use in nonparty Exact Sciences Corp.’s at-home test, Cologuard. The product, approved in 2014, analyzes DNA from stool samples.

The suit accuses LabCorp and Esoterix of failing to collect Exact’s sublicense fees and pay them to Johns Hopkins, as its contracts with the university require, or even ...