Medical Device Link.

A Breath of Fresh Air

The old saw about necessity being the mother of invention holds special significance for Bhairavi Parikh. The founder of Apieron (Menlo Park, CA) is a wife and mother with two family members who suffer from asthma. Her company was born, if you will, of Parikh’s desire to help her husband and others, including her daughter, who are coping with the chronic lung disorder.

Is a Consumer-Directed Strategy Right for Your Technology?
Evaluating the market potential for a new medical technology requires an in-depth understanding of a product’s intellectual property, regulatory pathway, clinical application, and reimbursement potential. Performing due diligence and understanding strategic options along these four dimensions are critical to making go/no-go investment and development decisions. Consideration of how your product would be used if reimbursed or sold directly to consumers can determine its success or failure in the marketplace.

Diversify Your Device Patent Portfolio with Design Patents
As a business-savvy medical device executive, you likely are well versed on the value of utility patents. But are you aware that a design patent for your product can be an equally important component of your intellectual property portfolio? This article explains the differences between utility and design patents, and details why your company should consider diversifying its IP investment with design protection.

Stryker Corp. (Kalamazoo, MI) has won its case involving surgical plates used to fix broken wrist bones. The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Western Division, granted summary judgment of invalidity on behalf of Stryker concerning the patent infringement lawsuit brought by TriMed Inc.(Valencia, CA). TriMed had alleged that Stryker’s Universal Distal Radius and VariAx Distal Radius plate systems infringe TriMed’s U.S. Patent No. 5,931,839. The District Court ruled that the asserted claims of the patent are invalid because they would have been obvious in light of prior art.

ev3 Inc. (Plymouth, MN) has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Chestnut Medical Technologies Inc., a privately held, California-based company focused on minimally invasive therapies for interventional neuroradiology. The transaction broadens ev3's neurovascular product portfolio by adding the Pipeline Embolization device for treatment of cerebral aneurysms and the Alligator Retrieval Device for foreign body retrieval. Under the agreement, ev3 will acquire 100% of the equity interests of Chestnut for total upfront consideration of $75 million, 30–40% of which is payable in cash, with the remaining portion payable in ev3 common stock. An additional milestone-based contingent payment of up to $75 million is payable in a combination of cash and ev3 common stock upon receipt of premarket approval of the Pipeline device. Any contingent milestone payment is not expected to be paid until 2011.

Portland, OR–based Tiba Medical has launched an expansion effort that emphasizes distribution partnerships for its hypertension diagnostics products. The Ambulo 2400 system will be available in Canada, Western Europe, and Latin America. Tiba's systems will be available to customers throughout Canada exclusively from Roxon medi tech. In Europe, Tiba Medical has established distribution partnerships for the UK and Ireland, Spain, Greece, Cyprus, and Turkey. In Latin America, the company has a distribution partner in Argentina Tiba plans to continue its international expansion efforts in other parts of Europe, Latin America, and Asia over the next several months.

Irvine, Ca–based medical device maker Endocare Inc. is being acquired for $16 million by HealthTronics Inc. (Austin, TX). The deal comes 10 months after HealthTronics tried to buy Endocare, a maker of cancer treatment devices, for $27 million. HealthTronics dropped that bid in September. Although HealthTronics is offering a lot less this time around, its offer is 50% more than what Endocare was trading at on Friday. Endocare’s shares are down about 80% in the past year. They surged nearly 40% at the close of trading on Monday on HealthTronics’ offer. HealthTronics is offering cash and stock to buy Endocare. The deal is set to close in the third quarter of 2009. Endocare makes devices for cryoablation-based procedures that surgically freeze and destroy cells and tissues.