On June 26, 2013, the Federal Circuit ruled in favor of firm client Medtronic in upholding a district court judgment that two Cordis Corp. and Wyeth patents covering a drug used in cardiac stents for heart disease are invalid.
Wyeth and Cordis sued Medtronic and other medical device companies alleging infringement of two patents that cover a method of treating restenosis with rapamycin, a drug used to retard the growth of scar tissue after balloon angioplasty. The district court granted summary judgment of invalidity on behalf of Medtronic in January 2012, when U.S. District Judge Joel A. Pisano, sitting in the Trenton Division of the District of New Jersey, rejected the plaintiffs’ claims finding that the patents did not adequately enable the full scope of the claims.
The McKool Smith team representing Medtronic included firm principal Sam Baxter.
The patents-in-suit are U.S. Patent Numbers 5,516,781 and 5,563,146. The case is Wyeth v. Abbott Laboratories, case number 12-1223, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
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