Patent Win for Medinol

Originally Published MX July/August 2003

BUSINESS NEWS

At the end of June, the patent chamber of the District Court in Düsseldorf, Germany, ruled that the Express stent by Boston Scientific (Natick, MA) infringes on patents held by Medinol (Tel Aviv, Israel). The Medinol win will force Boston Scientific to remove its Express stents from the German market, pending appeal. The court also ordered Boston Scientific to open its books in order to determine the amount of damages owed to Medinol.

At the beginning of July, Velocimed Inc. (Minneapolis) raised $18 million in third-round financing. Key investors included RiverVest Venture Partners (St. Louis), the Vertical Group (Summit, NJ), and Warburg Pincus (Menlo Park, CA). FDA recently approved an investigational device exemption for U.S. trials of the company's Proxis embolic protection system. According to Velocimed president and CEO Dennis Wahr, the third-round funding will be used for the pivotal U.S. clinical trial and to fund ongoing development projects.