A Medical Device Daily
Delcath Systems (New York) reported being granted Japanese Patent No. 511694, securing its intellectual property that describes a modification of Delcath's original patented, double-balloon catheter, which allows for the uninterrupted flow of blood to the heart while the patient receives a treatment with the Delcath System.
Report of the Japan patent follows, Delcath said, its recent efforts to extend its patent protection broadly in Europe and Asia. Delcath has expanded and updated its overseas portfolio to include 20 patents for the Delcath System, in addition to its eight U.S. patents.
The recent Japanese patent secures the same intellectual property protection as Delcath's rights under US Patent 5,893,841 titled, Balloon Catheter with Occluded Segment Bypass, and similar patents previously secured in Canada and selected countries in Europe. This invention describes the device currently being tested in Delcath's Phase III and Phase II trials at the National Cancer Institute. Additionally, Delcath currently has six pending foreign patent applications.
The Phase III study, currently underway at the NCI is testing the Delcath System for the regional delivery of melphalan to the liver to treat patients with metastatic ocular and cutaneous melanoma who have unresectable tumors in the liver.
In other patent news:
- Cambridge Research & Instrumentation (Cri; Woburn, Massachusetts) reported that the U.S. Patent Office has issued a notice of allowance for its patent application No. 10/669,101, for Spectral Imaging of Deep Tissue. This method patent covers the use of multi-spectral imaging, combined with spectral unmixing to greatly increase the signal-to-noise level of fluorophores in a living mammal. The unmixing of tissue autofluorescence is a key component in achieving quantitative, highly sensitive results from fluorophores in vivo, Cri says. The methodology covered by this allowance covers multi-spectral imaging hardware and algorithm-based approaches, including the use of CRi's patented liquid crystal tunable filter (LCTF) technology and CRi's image acquisition and data analysis software packages. Peter Miller, VP and chief science officer at Cri, said that the patent allowance "further strengthens our position in the area of in vivo imaging and further validates CRi's approach to providing customers with effective imaging solutions." Increasing sophistication in the design and interrogation of biological models and the advent of novel fluorescent probes have lead to new demands on molecular imaging systems to deliver enhanced sensitivity, reliable quantification and the ability to resolve multiple simultaneous signals each separated from the ubiquitous auto-fluorescence background.