AngioDynamics got fed up with competitor C.R. Bard's sales practices this year. In May, the Albany, NY-based company sued Bard for allegedly violating federal antitrust laws by tying the sale of its tip confirmation system to its own line of peripherally inserted central catheters (PICCs).

This puts AngioDynamics at a competitive disadvantage, the company said, because customers who want to buy Bard's tip location system must also buy Bard's PICCs. AngioDynamics sells the BioFlo PICCs. Tip location systems are designed to aid clinicians in the bedside placement of a PICC.