Over 90 Total Lots Up For Auction at One Location - WA 04/08

Endologix denies infringement of Bard Peripheral patent

by Astrid Fiano, DOTmed News Writer | August 19, 2010
Endologix confident
in its position
Endologix, Inc.(Endologix) of Irvine, Calif., has issued a statement disputing allegations of patent infringement in a federal complaint filed by Bard Peripheral Vascular, Inc. (Bard). Bard, of Tempe, Ariz., filed suit in U.S. District Court, District of Arizona alleging that Endologix's expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) prosthetic vascular graft material in its Powerlink® system infringed Bard's "Prosthetic Vascular Graft" patent (the '135 patent). Bard develops vascular, urology, oncology and surgical specialty products. Endologix develops technologies for vascular diseases.

Bard filed the suit earlier in August. Atrium Medical Corp. (Atrium) of Hudson, NH, is also named as a defendant. In the complaint, Bard alleges that Atrium has infringed upon the '135 patent through its products using ePTFE prosthetic vascular grafts including its Advanta™ VS PTFE Vascular Graft, Advanta™ SST PTFE Vascular Graft, and Advanta™ VXT PTFE Vascular Graft.

The Endologix statement says the company is "confident" that it has not infringed upon the patent, and will vigorously defend its position. John McDermott, President and Chief Executive Officer of Endologix said: "We are well versed on the patent cited in the lawsuit. Based on significant prior evaluations, testing and outside legal reviews, we are confident in our belief that we do not infringe the patent. Before developing and manufacturing our own in-house ePTFE graft material, we conducted a deep and thorough review of the patent landscape to insure that we would not infringe on any existing intellectual property. This included a specific, rigorous review of the Bard Peripheral patent named in the lawsuit, both internally and by outside legal counsel. Based upon those reviews, we believe the alleged infringement claims are without merit and intend to vigorously defend our position."

Bard is asking for damages and an injunction against Atrium and Endologix from selling the alleged infringing products. Endologix says it received FDA approval to manufacture its ePTFE graft material in April 2007 and has manufactured all of its own graft material since 2008.

Adapted in part from an Endologix press release, available here.