Medinol gains more ground
This article was originally published in The Gray Sheet
Executive Summary
Johnson & Johnson/Cordis contends preliminary injunction issued against its Dutch stent sales by the District Court of Appeals in The Hague will not affect pan-European stent availability. In a July 3 decision by the intermediary court, the BxVelocity bare-metal stent and Cypher drug-eluting stent are prohibited from sales or distribution in The Netherlands. The ruling overturns a 2001 preliminary decision by a lower court not to issue an injunction against the devices' sales, according to Medinol. Cordis' legal counsel said in a statement that while the company is "surprised by the ruling...the decision affects only local product sales, [which] are relatively small." The decision comes one week after a German court ruled in favor of Medinol in another patent dispute, enjoining against sales of Boston Scientific's Express, Express2 and Taxus stents in Germany. According to Medinol, the Munich patent office will hold a hearing July 9 to decide the validity of the two Cordis patents in question. Cordis maintains the Dutch ruling has no bearing on the September launch of its second-generation Select sirolimus-eluting stent in The Netherlands or across Europe...