Edwards Lifesciences Corp., the global leader in the science of heart valves and hemodynamic monitoring, announced that a federal jury today found that Edwards' U.S. Andersen transcatheter heart valve patent is valid and that Medtronic CoreValve LLC willfully infringes it. Edwards will move vigorously to enforce this verdict and intends to seek a permanent injunction. The jury also awarded Edwards $74 million in damages, and the willfulness finding allows Edwards to seek increased damages of up to three times that amount.

Meanwhile, Medtronic has announced that it will seek an appeal.

The patent involved in this suit is part of the Andersen family of patents, which relates to a valve prosthesis for implantation by means of a catheter. Filed in February 2008 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, this suit was directed at the manufacture or sale of the CoreValve ReValving System in the United States.