Boston Scientific Wins Suit
Jul. 2–A US District Court jury in Delaware ruled Johnson & Johnson infringed two Boston Scientific Corp. patents on cardiac stents yesterday, evening the score in recent litigation between the rival medical device makers.
Damages in the case won’t be set until later hearings, which will also decide whether the violations were willful. Another jury in the same court last month ruled in Johnson & Johnson’s favor in a related patent matter.
Yesterday’s victory for Boston Scientific of Natick, the largest life sciences firm in Massachusetts, could lead to an overall settlement on more favorable terms than the company might have gotten from Johnson & Johnson had it lost the second case, said Deutsche Bank Securities analyst Tao Levy. Like others, he hadn’t expected a ruling as much in Boston Scientific’s favor.
“This is a major, unexpected victory for Boston Scientific, and it will be a big bargaining chip,” Levy said.
Stents are tiny wire mesh tubes used to prop open arteries after they have been cleared of blockages through angioplasty. The latest versions from Boston Scientific and Johnson & Johnson are coated with drugs to prevent the formation of scar tissue that can re-clog the blood vessels.
In the case decided yesterday, the jury found in favor of Boston Scientific’s claims that Johnson & Johnson stents, including its popular Cypher model, infringed on the Natick company’s patents on the stents’ structure and drug coatings.
In a statement Boston Scientific chief operating officer Paul A. LaViolette said, “We are very pleased with the jury’s verdict. It confirms our belief that we have fundamental intellectual property covering drug-eluting stent technology and stent design.”
Johnson & Johnson vowed to fight the verdict. In a statement the company said it “believes the verdict was not supported by the evidence and will ask the judge to reverse it.” If unsuccessful, the company will appeal to a higher court.
The two sides had been in settlement talks as recently as June, but yesterday neither would discuss the possibility. Boston Scientific also is in enmeshed in other litigation including a fierce commercial dispute with Medinol Ltd., its former stent supplier.
Even in the highly litigious medical devices industry, the legal jeopardy facing Boston Scientific has helped drive its shares down 22 percent this year. Yesterday its shares fell 11 cents to close at $26.89, but the jury decision wasn’t revealed until after New York Stock Exchange trading ended.
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