A Medical Device Daily

Angiotech Pharmaceuticals (Vancouver) reported a favorable decision regarding its Hunter Patent from the European Patent Office (EPO) in Munich, Germany.

Angiotech said that the EPO's Technical Board of Appeal rejected the attempt by Conor Medsystems (Menlo Park, California) and Sahajanand Medical Technologies (Surat, India) to intervene and appeal an earlier decision by the Opposition Division of the European Patent Office, which upheld the Hunter patent. Angiotech said that the decision found that these appeals were "inadmissible."

The Hunter patent covers claims to stents coated with a composition of paclitaxel and a polymeric carrier.

William Hunter, president/CEO, MD, of Angiotech, said, "Angiotech views this outcome as yet another confirmation of the strength and validity of our patent portfolio. We continue to have great success defending our intellectual property, and we remain committed to vigorously protect our important proprietary technologies in jurisdictions around the world."

Angiotech is a specialty pharmaceutical and medical device company developing therapies for diseases associated with medical device implants, surgical interventions and acute injury. It reports having patent applications in Canada, the U.S. and other jurisdictions and that it holds more than 160 U.S.

Conor is developing drug-eluting stent technology in collaboration with Sahajanand Medical.

In other patent news:

Pall (East Hills, New York) reported filing a patent infringement action in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against BioQuate (Clearwater, Florida), alleging that BioQuate is manufacturing and selling disposable aseptic connector devices that infringe on a patent on Pall's Kleenpak Aseptic Connector. The suit seeks damages and an injunction precluding BioQuate from selling the infringing product.

Pall manufactures products for filtration, separation and purification.