Medical Device Link.

NEWS

CSP Technologies Inc. (Auburn, AL) and Süd-Chemie Inc. (Louisville, KY), along with its parent company Süd-Chemie AG (Munich, Germany), have reached a settlement that officially ends multiple litigation matters between the two companies. The companies reached the settlement agreement on December 20, 2006, to end their patent dispute relating to a desiccant-entrained polymer product. Under the agreement, Süd-Chemie paid CSP $8 million and agreed to the entry of a consent judgment confirming the infringement of the product. In return, CSP agreed to dismiss all U.S. litigation against or involving Süd-Chemie Inc. and Süd-Chemie AG, including pending litigation in the Middle District of Alabama. The U.S. District Court Southern District of Indiana ruled on August 4, 2006, that Süd-Chemie Inc. had infringed claims 1, 4, 7, and 25 of U.S. patent 5,911,937 (referred to as the 937 patent) and claims 1 and 6 of U.S. patent 6,214,255 (referred to as the 255 patent). Under the settlement, Süd-Chemie is prohibited from infringement of the 937 and 255 patents by the adjudicated product or formulation and from infringement by products or formulations not more than colorably different from the adjudicated product or formulation. Süd-Chemie agreed to the validity and enforceability of the patent claims. The companies stipulated to the continuing jurisdiction of the U.S. District Court Southern District of Indiana with respect to the injunction and agreement until the expiration of the two patents.

Alcan Packaging (Shelbyville, KY) will invest $27.5 million in an expansion project for its Pharma Center facility in Shelbyville, which is dedicated to pharmaceutical flexible packaging materials. The expansion will include the installation of a laminator, an eight-color gravure printing press, a slitter, a cleanroom, a finishing and packing complex, a warehouse, and a cure room. The expansion will also result in 40 to 50 new job positions.

The Healthcare Compliance Packaging Council (Falls Church, VA) is accepting entries for its 2006 HCPC Compliance Package of the Year Awards competition through March 15, 2007. HCPC and Pharmaceutical & Medical Packaging News’s publisher, Canon Communications llc, will contribute a total of $12,000 in scholarship funds based on award-winner designations. Packages will be judged for their ability to optimize patient compliance as well as their design features. Qualifying packages must be in a unit-dose format; have at least one compliance-enhancing feature; have been commercially available anywhere in the world at some point during 2005; and not require drug products to be repackaged by patients.

According to the new edition of the Guide to the U.S. Packaging Industry, published by Impact Marketing Consultants (Manchester Center, VT), consumption of packaging materials by the United States in 2005 totaled $102 billion, of which 25.8% (or $26.3 billion) was plastics. The report indicates that the share of plastics in packaging materials has been increasing steadily over the past 20 years, from 17.2% in 1985 to 19.2% in 1990, 22.2% in 1996, and to 24.2% in 2000. The report forecasts an increase to 28.1% in 2010 based on a recent survey. Blow-molded containers are the leading product, says the report, accounting for 34% of plastics consumption in packaging in 2005.

Oracle Packaging (Tulsa, OK) has acquired Tolas Healthcare Packaging (Feasterville, PA) in an effort to further its growth in the healthcare packaging industry. Tolas, which converts DuPont Tyvek and various films and foils to produce high-performance pharmaceutical and medical packaging, will integrate with Oracle’s eight manufacturing facilities. Tolas will also contribute a 50,000-sq-ft converting operation in Philadelphia and a 20,000-sq-ft coating operation in suburban Cincinnati. Oracle currently specializes in folding cartons and flexible packaging.

Co.Ri.M.A. (Siena, Italy), a subsidiary of Marchesini Group that produces ampule-filling and -closing machines and syringe-filling machines, has begun construction on a new plant outside Siena. The new plant will cover 6000 sq m (or a little more than 64,500 sq ft) and is part of Marchesini’s long-term goal to increase its involvement in the sterile-products market. The plant will be located at the foot of Monteriggioni castle, not far from the Florence-Siena motorway.