Healthcare Industry News: Patent Foramen Ovale
News Release - November 9, 2007
NMT Medical Wins Favorable Ruling in Patent Infringement Lawsuit Against Cardia
BOSTON--(HSMN NewsFeed)--NMT Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ: NMTI ) today announced that the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota has issued a ruling that Cardia, Inc. of Burnsville, Minnesota has infringed United States Patent No. 5.451.235 (“the 235 Patent”) and confirms that the patent is valid.NMT's President and Chief Executive Officer John E. Ahern said, “We are very pleased with the Court's decision. We were confident that our intellectual property had been violated in the Cardia case. We believe we have more patents than any other company in the Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO) closure space. Currently, we have 66 issued U.S. patents – with 76 more pending – as well as numerous foreign equivalents. It has always been and will continue to be our policy to defend our intellectual property when we believe that it has been infringed upon.”
About NMT Medical, Inc.
NMT Medical is an advanced medical technology company that designs, develops, manufactures and markets proprietary implant technologies that allow interventional cardiologists to treat structural heart disease through minimally invasive, catheter-based procedures. NMT is currently investigating the potential connection between a common heart defect that allows a right to left shunt or flow of blood through a defect like a Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO) and brain attacks such as embolic stroke, migraine headaches and transient ischemic attacks (TIAs). A common right to left shunt can allow venous blood, unfiltered and unmanaged by the lungs, to enter the arterial circulation of the brain, possibly triggering a cerebral event or brain attack. More than 25,000 PFOs have been treated globally with NMT's minimally invasive, catheter-based implant technology.
Stroke is the third leading cause of death in the United States and the leading cause of disability in adults. Each year, 750,000 Americans suffer a new or recurrent stroke and an additional 500,000 Americans experience a TIA. The prevalence of migraines in the United States is about 10%. Of the 28 million migraine sufferers in America, those who experience aura and have a PFO may represent a three million patient subset.
For more information about NMT Medical, please visit www.nmtmedical.com.
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements – including statements regarding the expansion of the Company’s cardiovascular business and market opportunities and intellectual property, including the Company’s protection thereof, and the Company’s investment in product development – involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties or other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause such a difference include, but are not limited to, the Company’s ability to develop and commercialize new products, a potential delay in the regulatory process with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and foreign regulatory agencies, as well as risk factors discussed under the heading “Risk Factors” included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2006, Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2007, and subsequent filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Source: NMT Medical
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