SAN DIEGO, Dec. 14, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Sequenom, Inc. (NASDAQ: SQNM), a life sciences company providing innovative genetic analysis solutions, today announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has withdrawn the issuance of U.S. Patent No. 8,340,916. Sequenom has been informed by the Patent and Trademark Office that issuance was withdrawn in connection with an anticipated patent interference proceeding between parties with pending patent applications or issued patents directed to similar subject matter. 

Sequenom had previously been notified that the patent would issue on December 25, 2012, with claims to novel methods for detecting fetal aneuploidy using massively parallel sequencing. The patent is entitled Diagnosing Fetal Chromosomal Aneuploidy Using Massively Parallel Genomic Sequencing and was invented by Drs. Dennis Lo, Rossa Chiu and Alan Chan of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Sequenom has exclusive rights to this patent.

About Sequenom

Sequenom, Inc. (NASDAQ: SQNM) is a life sciences company committed to improving healthcare through revolutionary genetic analysis solutions. Sequenom develops innovative technology, products and diagnostic tests that target and serve discovery and clinical research, and molecular diagnostics markets. The company was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in San Diego, California. Sequenom maintains a Web site at www.sequenom.com to which Sequenom regularly posts copies of its press releases as well as additional information about Sequenom. Interested persons can subscribe on the Sequenom Web site to email alerts or RSS feeds that are sent automatically when Sequenom issues press releases, files its reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission or posts certain other information to the Web site.

Forward-Looking Statements

Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters set forth in this press release, including statements regarding an anticipated patent interference proceeding and the Company's commitment to improving healthcare through revolutionary genetic analysis solutions, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially, including the risks and uncertainties associated with market demand for and acceptance and use by customers of its products, reliance upon the collaborative efforts of other parties, the Company's financial position, its ability to position itself for product launches and growth and develop and commercialize new technologies and products, particularly newer technologies such as noninvasive prenatal diagnostics, laboratory developed tests, and genetic analysis platforms, the Company's ability to manage its existing cash resources or raise additional cash resources, competition, intellectual property protection and intellectual property rights of others, government regulation particularly with respect to diagnostic products and laboratory developed tests, obtaining or maintaining regulatory approvals, litigation involving the Company, and other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's most recently filed Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011, and other documents subsequently filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission. These forward-looking statements are based on current information that may change and you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement, and the Company undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the issuance of this press release.

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SOURCE Sequenom, Inc.