ViaCell, Inc. Prevails Over PharmaStem in Federal Circuit Patent Appeal

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ViaCell, Inc. (Nasdaq: VIAC) today announced that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has ruled in favor of ViaCell in a patent infringement suit brought against the Company and other defendants by PharmaStem Therapeutics, Inc. The Federal Circuit upheld an earlier decision by the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware that ViaCell, through its marketing of ViaCord®, a product offering through which families can preserve their baby’s umbilical cord blood at the time of birth for possible future medical use, does not infringe PharmaStem’s U.S. Patent No. 5,192,553 (‘553) and U.S. Patent No. 5,004,681 (‘681), which relate to certain aspects of collection, cryopreservation, storage and use of hematopoietic stem cells from umbilical cord blood. The court also found the ‘553 and the ‘681 patents invalid based on prior art.