After spending years battling with Apple Inc. over the consumer heart monitoring market Alivecor Inc. is hoping to bring its technology to the professional health care market with its new device, which recently received clearance from the U.S. FDA.
In the latest salvo of the ongoing battle between Apple Inc. and Masimo Corp. over the use of a blood oxygen technology, a U.S. federal appeals court paused an International Trade Commission (ITC) ban on Apple’s watches. Apple reported on Dec. 19 that it would pull the Apple Watch Ultra 2 and Apple Watch Series 9 from its website on Dec. 21 and from its retail locations after Dec. 24, in response to an exclusion order issued by the ITC in October.
Alivecor Inc. has nudged the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) into issuing a limited exclusion order for products by Apple Inc. that are said to violate patents held by Alivecor, but there is one more stage gate to go for Alivecor. The ITC order notes that the exclusion won’t go into force until resolution of an inter partes review (IPR) involving the two firms, a process that could devour as much as a year and a half before a resolution is available.
Intellectual property continues to be a pressing issue for makers of medical devices and diagnostics as demonstrated by the ongoing patent dispute between Alivecor Inc., and Apple Inc., which is being waged on multiple fronts. An administrative judge at the International Trade Commission (ITC) sided with Alivecor in the dispute, opening the door to an import ban while the Patent Trial and Appeal Board found that 20 of the claims in the disputed patent are unpatentable.
The link between the use of antipsychotic medications and the risk of sudden cardiac arrest may not have yet earned universal recognition among cardiologists, but the U.K. National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has seen enough to believe the hypothesis has some merit. The agency recently proposed that the Kardiamobile 6L device by Alivecor Inc., of Mountain View, Calif., be covered for patients taking antipsychotic medications, a policy which if adopted would reflect what NICE sees as an unmet need for a population at grave risk.
Patent disputes between developers of medical software might not have kept pace with the rate of disputes over in vitro diagnostic patents, but Alivecor Inc. and Apple Inc. are doing their share to keep software patents in the news. In the latest development, Mountain View, Calif.-based Alivecor reported that it won an initial determination of infringement of one of its patents by Apple Inc., of Cupertino, Calif., which could lead to an exclusion order for Apple watches if the case ultimately goes Alivecor’s way.
At this year’s Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) 2022 conference in Orlando, Fla., digital health companies across the sector gathered to showcase new products and services. HIMSS CEO Hal Wolf urged the industry to focus on global health equity and a 2022 survey of health care leaders highlighted the elements of digital transformation that are causing the biggest buzz.
The U.K. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended the use of the Kardiamobile as an option for detecting atrial fibrillation (AF) events in patients diagnosed with suspected paroxysmal AF. Alivecor Inc., of Mountain View, Calif., is the obvious beneficiary of the recommendation, a good bit of news given the company’s struggles to maintain patent protection for its products.
Alivecor Inc. is partnering with blockchain technology company Solve.Care to connect users of its Kardiamobile device to physicians through a telehealth network. Tallinn, Estonia-based Solve.Care’s blockchain platform, the Global Telehealth Exchange (GTHE), is an open global cross-border telehealth network currently available in 27 countries. Alivecor’s Kardiamobile 6L device is the first and only six-lead personal ECG cleared by the FDA. Through the partnership, Kardiamobile devices will be integrated with GTHE where physicians will be able to access a user’s electrocardiogram (ECG) reading upon their consent through teleconsultations.
Alivecor Inc. has elevated its patent dispute with Apple Inc. to the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) in a move that could damage the latter’s foray into digital health. Alivecor is alleging that Apple, of Cupertino, Calif., has infringed on Alivecor patents for electrocardiogram monitoring technology, a development that may foreshadow a continuing legal struggle between the two companies for a large and rapidly growing market.
