Foley Hoag has secured another significant victory for its client Geneoscopy, Inc. On February 5, 2026, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) issued a Final Written Decision on inter partes review (IPR) finding that all challenged claims of Exact Sciences' U.S. Patent No. 11,970,746 ('746 patent), directed to stool sample collection and processing methods, are unpatentable. This ruling follows the PTAB's July 2025 decision invalidating all 20 claims of a related Exact Sciences patent, U.S. Patent No. 11,634,781 ('781 patent).
As a result of Geneoscopy's two IPR wins, all patent claims asserted by Exact Sciences against Geneoscopy in the parties' ongoing federal court litigation have now been invalidated. Together with the PTAB's earlier decision on the '781 patent, this latest decision removes the final patent‑based barrier to the continued commercialization of ColoSense", Geneoscopy's FDA‑approved noninvasive colorectal cancer screening test.
The PTAB rulings also significantly narrow the dispute in the consolidated cases pending in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, where Exact Sciences, the manufacturer of the Cologuard® screening test for colorectal cancer, initially brought its patent infringement claims. Foley Hoag continues to represent Geneoscopy in defending against Exact Science's ancillary false advertising claims and in pursuing Geneoscopy's counterclaims against Exact Sciences for false advertising, unfair competition, breach of contract, and trade secret misappropriation. The case currently is scheduled for trial in November 2026.
The PTAB decision is reported by Law360 here.
Foley Hoag attorneys Brendan Jones, Donald Ware, Sarah Burg, David Shore, Constantine Mylonas, Val Orellana, and Spenser Angel represented Geneoscopy in the IPR proceeding.