A Medical Device Daily

Advanced Medical Optics (AMO; Santa Ana, California) reported that it has entered into a patent cross-licensing agreement with Alcon (Huenenberg, Switzerland) relating to lubricious coatings for intraocular lens (IOL) inserters and one-piece IOL haptic designs.

AMO is granting a license to Alcon to AMO's U.S. patent nos. 5,803,925, titled "IOL Insertion Apparatus with Covalently Bonded Lubricant," and 5,716,364, titled "IOL Insertion Apparatus and Method for Making and Using Same," and related foreign patents.

Alcon is granting AMO a license to Alcon's U.S. patent No. 5,716,403, titled "Single Piece Foldable Intraocular Lens," and related foreign patents, insofar as they relate to AMO's newly-launched Tecnis One-Piece Intraocular Lens.

As part of this cross-license agreement, Alcon will make a payment to AMO of $31 million and AMO will make a payment to Alcon of $10 million. All other terms of the agreement are confidential.

In addition, Alcon will receive paid-up, non-exclusive, worldwide licenses under two families of patents owned by AMO. The licenses assure Alcon of freedom to operate with respect to the subject AMO patents, relative to the coating systems currently utilized in its Monarch and Acrysert brand IOL insertion devices, as well as any future coating systems of a similar type that Alcon may develop.

AMO expects to receive the net cash proceeds of $21 million in 2Q08.

In other patent news, Hyaluron Contract Manufacturing (HCM; Burlington, Massachusetts) reported the grant of a patent and the registration of a trademark for its proprietary process for aseptic online vacuum filling and online vacuum stoppering of low viscosity liquids in syringes. Bubble-Free Filling enhances product stability for oxygen sensitive compounds where dissolved oxygen negatively impacts solution stability. The process also provides additional assurances of sterility by reducing stopper movement as well as creating an unfavorable environment for the growth of aerobic micro-organisms.

HCM said it was able to develop the Bubble-Free Filling method by re-engineering standard syringe filling equipment and creating a unique fluid handling and transfer process. HCM has another patent pending for a proprietary aseptic processing method for non-destructive testing of container/closure integrity.