A Medical Device Daily

Sharps Compliance (Houston) and subsidiaries, providers of medical waste disposal systems, reported the resolution of litigation with Attentus Medical Sales (Humble, Texas) and Jason Jodway, president of Attentus.

Sharps has entered into an agreement for Attentus to sell the company's Sharps Disposal By Mail Systems on an exclusive basis. Sharps, Attentus and Jodway have dismissed all claims against each other.

Dr. Burton Kunik, CEO/chairman of Sharps, said, “We … look forward to working with Attentus and Jason Jodway in a productive manner to grow our businesses.“

Jodway said, “Attentus Medical and Sharps can now focus our efforts on future growth.“

Sharps' markets include healthcare, agriculture, hospitality, professional, industrial, commercial and retail. Sharps Compliance is the supplier of Sharps Disposal by Mail systems to the Consumer Health Care division of BD (Becton, Dickinson and Co.; Franklin Lakes, New Jersey). The company also maintains a sales and marketing arrangement with Waste Management (Houston), providing systems and services for that company's residential and commercial customers.

In other legalities,Amgen (Thousand Oaks, California) reported that an administrative law judge (ALJ) at the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC; Washington) issued a summary determination that Roche's importation and use of peg-EPO in the U.S. to date are subject to a clinical trial exemption to patent infringement. This decision will become final within 30 days unless modified by the commission, it said.

The ALJ made no determination concerning the merits of Amgen's claim that future importation and sale of peg-EPO by Roche (Basel, Switzerland) will infringe Amgen's patents. The decision does not prevent Amgen from re-filing its complaint at a later time.

“Today's ITC decision does not impact Amgen's pending patent infringement lawsuit against Roche in federal court, nor does it preclude Amgen from re-filing with the ITC at a later date,“ said David Scott, senior vice president, general counsel and secretary of Amgen.

He said that Amgen believes Roche's peg-EPO product violates six of its U.S. patents while providing no additional clinical or patient benefit over Amgen's therapies, Epogen (Epoetin alfa) and Aranesp (darbepoetin alfa). Amgen introduced Epogen in 1989.