A Medical Device Daily

Revolutions Medical (Mount Pleasant, South Carolina) said it recently received first office action from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) indicating that the claims in the BBS patent application are distinct enough to support the filing of three additional patents.

The company called this news "exciting" and said it has the potential to "significantly strengthen the strong intellectual property position of the company in this area."

Revolutions said it has separated out the primary application and has continued with the filing.

"Our portfolio of intellectual properties continues to grow," said Ron Wheet, CEO of Revolutions. "We will soon have four U.S. patent applications protecting our newly acquired Breast Biopsy System."

Wheet said the company already has four U.S. patent applications pending on its RevColor and Rev3D software technology plus comparable European patent protection filings. Its RevVac Safety Syringe has two U.S. patents issued plus many additional individual country filings' protecting the company's safety syringe patent rights internationally. Revolutions also has a U.S. patent issued on its blood drawing device, he noted.

"It is so important to take the time, money and effort to protect our technologies earlier rather than later as we bring these products to the marketplace and continue to add value to our company," Wheet said.

In other patent activity:

• Uroplasty (Minnetonka, Minnesota), a company that makes devices for the treatment of voiding dysfunctions, reported the issuance of U.S. Patent 7,536,226 titled "Electro-Nerve Stimulatory System and Methods." The patent covers the company's Urgent PC system and stimulation methods for the treatment of the overactive bladder symptoms of urinary urgency, urge incontinence and frequency of urinary voids. According to the company, the Urgent PC Neuromodulation System is a minimally invasive, office-based, nonsurgical system designed to deliver retrograde access to the sacral plexus through percutaneous electrical stimulation of the posterior tibial nerve. The Urgent PC system combines a pulse generator and a lead set to transfer electrical current from the pulse generator to the posterior tibial nerve, and includes a single use feature to prevent reuse of the lead set. By preventing reuse of lead sets, the Urgent PC System eliminates the health risks otherwise associated with re-using the same electrodes, the company said.

• Cytori Therapeutics (San Diego) recently received a notice of allowance from the USPTO related to uses of the Celution system for the treatment of bone related disorders. Specifically, the allowed claims cover prosthetic devices that can be seeded with adipose derived stem and regenerative cells for use in bone healing and regeneration, the company noted.

Cytori also reported that it received a second notice of allowance related to methods of obtaining clinically safe outputs from the Celution system. The allowed claims cover methods of testing the system output for contaminants such as red blood cells, lipids, enzymes, aggregates, and endotoxins, among other things, the company said.

Cytori said its intellectual property portfolio includes 14 U.S. and international patents.

• Medizone (San Francisco) said it has filed a patent application for its lead product AsepticSure. The AsepticSure is designed to decontaminate and sterilize hospital surgical suites, emergency rooms, intensive care units, schools and other critical infrastructure, according to Medizone.