CareDx is the exclusive licensee of U.S. Patents 8,703,652,
9,845,497, and 10,329,607 entitled “Non-Invasive Diagnosis of
Graft Rejection in Organ Transplant Patients” owned by
Stanford. The patents describe diagnosing or predicting organ
transplant status by using methods to detect a donor's
cell-free DNA (“cfDNA”). When an organ transplant is
rejected, the recipient's body, through its natural immune
response, destroys the donor cells, thus releasing cfDNA from the
donated organ's dying cells into the blood. The increased
levels of donor cfDNA, which occur naturally as the organ's
condition deteriorates, can be detected and used to diagnose the
likelihood of an organ transplant rejection. Claim 1 of the
'652 patent reads (simplified):
