Boston Scientific Says Court Rules Edwards Lifesciences' Valve Infringes Patent

(RTTNews) - Boston Scientific Corp (BSX) said Tuesday that the District Court of Dusseldorf, Germany has determined that Edwards Lifesciences Corp.'s (EW) Sapien 3 Ultra device infringed a patent specific to the fabric used on the valve seal, specifically the German part of European Patent EP 2 949 292 B1. The patent was established by Symetis SA, a subsidiary of Boston Scientific.

According to Boston Scientific, the Dusseldorf Court ruled in preliminary injunction proceedings that the company has the right to enjoin Edwards and its German subsidiary from offering and selling Sapien 3 Ultra in Germany. The infringement and injunction decision can be appealed by Edwards.

In 2017, Edwards' currently-available Sapien 3 device was found to infringe two Boston Scientific patents by the same court.

Boston Scientific noted that those rulings, which have been appealed by Edwards, enable Boston Scientific to enjoin Sapien 3 from the German market. The company has not yet exercised that option.

"We are pleased with the steady cadence of European court rulings which uphold and validate our TAVR intellectual property against competitive encroachment. Defending our patents is a core necessity which allows us to continue to innovate and offer differentiated technologies to hospitals, physicians and their patients," said Desiree Ralls-Morrison, senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary of Boston Scientific.