Medtronic Inc. said late Tuesday that the U.S. District Court in Delaware issued a ruling on post-trial motions in a patent infringement case involving its CoreValve Inc. subsidiary, which was sued by Irvine, Calif.-based Edwards Lifesciences Corp.
Med-tech watchers may recall that Medtronic bought CoreValve in 2009 for an up-front payment of $700 million. CoreValve has developed a heart valve that is inserted into the body using a minimally invasive technique. Outside the U.S. the CoreValve product is approved in 35 countries.
The court denied Edwards Lifesciences' request for a permanent injunction that would have prohibited Medtronic from manufacturing the CoreValve heart valve in the United States. As a result, Medtronic said it does not anticipate any interruption to supply of its CoreValve System.
However, the court affirmed an earlier $74 million jury verdict against Medtronic for patent infringement, a ruling the Fridley-based company plans on appealing. The ruling has no impact on CoreValve's ongoing U.S. pivotal trial, which began in December.
Janet Moore covers medical technology for the Star Tribune.
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