Colibri alleged that doctors use Medtronic's devices in a manner that infringes its patent for replacing heart valves in patients with heart disease
The world headquarters of Medtronic, Minnesota, US. (Credit: Bobak Ha'Eri/Wikimedia Commons)
A federal jury in the US District Court for the Central District of California has ordered a unit of medical device company Medtronic to pay $106.5m to Colibri Heart Valve over a patent infringement allegation.
Upon completion of a seven-day trial, the jury found that Evolut devices, marketed by Medtronic CoreValve, breached a Colibri patent for the replacement of heart valves in heart disease patients.
In 2020, the Colorado-based Colibri filed a lawsuit against Medtronic. It alleged that doctors used the latter’s devices in a manner that infringes its patent, which covers a technique for regulating the deployment of self-expanding artificial heart valves.
The jury members rejected Medtronic CoreValve’s argument that the patent should be cancelled.
The US-based medical device maker has plans to appeal the case, reported Star Tribune.
Medtronic, has been quoted by the publication, as stating: “Medtronic strongly disagrees with the ruling and will continue to vigorously defend against these allegations at the appellate level.
“In the meantime, Colibri’s patent has no impact on ongoing operations, as the patent expired in January 2022.”
As per Colibri’s original complaint, the company officials met with Medtronic about the inventions in 2014 and sent a presentation about the patents to the latter in 2018, reported Reuters.
In mid-2014, Medtronic secured approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its competing CoreValve System.
Colibri claimed that the CoreValve products of Medtronic have cross-linked biological tissue and a delivery system, which are mentioned in its patents, and are inserted using its patented method of controlled release.
In December last year, Medtronic announced the recruitment of the first patient in the Expand URO US clinical trial of its Hugo robotic-assisted surgery (RAS) system.