Magnolia Medical Appoints Matthew Lehr as Intellectual Property Special Counsel

SEATTLE, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Magnolia Medical Technologies today announced that Matthew B. Lehr has been named Intellectual Property Special Counsel and will advise the company on intellectual property (IP) strategy and enforcement matters.

"Intellectual property is a critical asset for any innovative medical device company that invests heavily to develop new technologies that drive important paradigm shifts in medicine," said Greg Bullington, CEO of Magnolia Medical. "In our case, we have invested well over a decade along with significant resources to create the category known as initial specimen diversion to significantly improve sepsis testing accuracy. We will benefit from Matt's expertise and active participation as we continue to drive hospital adoption of our Steripath® platform to prevent blood culture contamination."

Lehr brings over 30 years' experience in patent and technology law involving areas such as medical devices, biotechnology, and pharmaceuticals. Most recently he headed the intellectual property litigation department of the international law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, focusing primarily on complex patent litigation. In a notable medical device patent infringement case led by Lehr, VNUS Medical was awarded $46.5 million in damages.

"I am pleased to work with Magnolia as they commercialize and protect their groundbreaking technologies, which directly improve the quality of care for patients," said Lehr. "The company has built an extensive and broad intellectual property foundation that will allow them to maintain appropriate protection in numerous medical device categories in the years to come."

Inventors of both the technique and technology for initial specimen diversion for blood culture collection and contamination prevention, Magnolia Medical has amassed more than 60 issued method, apparatus and design patents including over 600 claims. The company will continue to build upon, and protect, its extensive intellectual property portfolio and the markets it has created.

About Magnolia Medical
Magnolia Medical is a medical device company that develops, manufactures and markets innovative blood and bodily fluid collection devices to facilitate significant improvements in the accuracy, consistency and predictability of critical in vitro diagnostic (IVD) laboratory tests. Magnolia Medical invented and patented the initial specimen diversion technique (ISDT™) and device (ISDD®) for blood culture collection and contamination prevention. The Steripath ISDD has been shown in peer-reviewed published clinical trials to reduce blood culture contamination — which in turn helps healthcare providers decrease false positive diagnostic results for sepsis and the resulting unnecessary and inappropriate antibiotic use. This reduces the risk of Clostridium difficile infections, multi-drug-resistant organisms and other antibiotic-related complications, hospital length of stay, associated healthcare-acquired infections, and hospital-wide costs. The company has amassed an IP portfolio protecting its technology and products, including more than 60 issued method, apparatus and design patents with over 50 additional patent applications pending. For more information, visit www.magnolia-medical.com.

Contact: Liz Dowling, (415) 388-2794
Dowling & Dennis Public Relations 
E-mail: Liz@DowlingDennis.net

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SOURCE Magnolia Medical Technologies