OrbusNeich Announces Favorable Ruling From the European Patent Office
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Feb. 12, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- OrbusNeich Medical, Inc. ("OrbusNeich") announced that it received a favorable ruling from the European Patent Office ("EPO") yesterday in connection with its European Patent EP1 341 482. The '482 patent covers certain novel stents with helical structures. It was issued by the EPO to OrbusNeich in October 2010 and does not expire until December 2021.
In July 2011, Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE: BSX) and Terumo Kabushiki Kaisha filed oppositions asking the EPO to revoke the '482 patent, asserting that the patent was invalid. In response, OrbusNeich amended the claim of the '482 patent to more clearly identify the scope of its novel, helical stents. During oral proceedings held yesterday in The Hague, the EPO upheld the claim of the '482 patent as amended.
OrbusNeich believes that the claim of the '482 patent is infringed by current lines of Boston Scientific's stent systems. OrbusNeich is committed to maintaining and enforcing patent protection for all of its intellectual property and innovations. The Company is evaluating all options related to its stent patent portfolio.
About OrbusNeich
OrbusNeich is a global company that designs, develops, manufactures and markets innovative medical devices for the treatment of vascular diseases. Current products are the world's first pro-healing stent, the Genous Stent, as well as other stents and balloons marketed under the names of Azule, R stent, Scoreflex, Sapphire, Sapphire II and Sapphire NC. Development stage products include the COMBO Dual Therapy Stent, the world's first dual therapy stent. OrbusNeich is headquartered in Hong Kong and has operations in Shenzhen, China; Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Hoevelaken, The Netherlands; and Tokyo, Japan. OrbusNeich supplies medical devices to interventional cardiologists in more than 60 countries. For more information, visit www.OrbusNeich.com.
Follow OrbusNeich on Twitter at www.twitter.com/OrbusNeich, and learn more about the company and its innovative technology on OrbusNeich's YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/OrbusNeichMedia.
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SOURCE OrbusNeich Medical, Inc.