St. Jude seeks damages from Occlutech

St. Jude Medical, through its recent $1.3 billion acquisition of AGA Medical, has filed lawsuits against Occlutech for patent infringement. The suits, which involve a total of three patents and seek injunctive relief and monetary damages, were filed in Germany and the U.K. at the District Court of Dusseldorf and the High Court of Justice, Chancery Division, Patents Court, respectively.

The patent infringement suits allege that products distributed by Occlutech, namely the company’s atrial septal defect and patent foramen ovale closure/occlusion devices, infringe on key patents used for the St. Jude's Amplatzer occlusion device platform. The platform, which is comprised of nitinol-based occlusion devices and accessories, offers minimally invasive transcatheter treatments for the closure of structural defects found in a patient’s heart.

“St. Jude Medical values the innovations we bring to the industry and will closely protect our intellectual property,” said Frank Callaghan, president of the cardiovascular division of the St. Paul, Minn.-based St. Jude.

AGA Medical has been engaged in litigation against Occlutech since 2006.

Around the web

Several key trends were evident at the Radiological Society of North America 2024 meeting, including new CT and MR technology and evolving adoption of artificial intelligence.

Ron Blankstein, MD, professor of radiology, Harvard Medical School, explains the use of artificial intelligence to detect heart disease in non-cardiac CT exams.

Eleven medical societies have signed on to a consensus statement aimed at standardizing imaging for suspected cardiovascular infections.