Cardinal Health to Acquire Cordis for $2 Billion
(March 2, 2015) Johnson & Johnson announced that Cardinal Health has made a binding offer to acquire Cordis, a Johnson & Johnson company, for $1.99 billion. The press release indicates that the sale price includes $1.944 billion in cash and $46 million in net receivables. According to Cardinal Health’s announcement regarding the acquisition, it expects the deal to close by the end of 2015. Highlights of the deal can be found here.
According to its website, Cordis manufactures cardiovascular and endovascular products, for example stents, catheters, guidewires, and vena cava filters. According to news articles, Cordis was acquired by Johnson & Johnson in 1996 for about $1.8 billion.
According to its website, Cardinal Health is a health care services company that distributes pharmaceuticals and medical products to healthcare providers and pharmacies. Cardinal Health also manufactures various medical products. Last year, Cardinal Health acquired AccessClosure for $320 million.
New Suit Targets Rex Medical’s Vena Cava Filter
EVM Systems, LLC has filed a new lawsuit targeting Rex Medical, L.P. and Argon Medical Devices, Inc. The lawsuit alleges infringement of U.S. Patent No. 8,052,670, entitled “Medical Device With Slotted Memory Metal Tube.” According to the ’670 Patent, the patent “generally relates to an instrument which uses a slotted memory metal tube to perform or assist in various medical procedures.” ’670 Patent, col. 1, lines 17-19. Figure 1A from the ’670 Patent is shown below:
According to the ’670 Patent, Figure 1A illustrates a “memory metal tube 11 with four slots 12 near the distal end. The slots 12 create a balloon-shaped structure which can be used as a retrieval basket for small particles 14, with a closure around the caught particle due to the concave shape of the inner wall of the memory metal tube 11.” ’670 Patent, col. 3, lines 32-37.
EVM Systems alleges that Rex Medical’s Option™ Vena Cava Filter infringes the ’670 Patent. EVM Systems is a subsidiary of Acacia Research Corporation and has sued a number of medical device companies in the past several years, including Boston Scientific, Cordis Corporation, and Abbott Laboratories. According to the complaint, Rex Medical is based in Pennsylvania, and Rex Medical’s distributor, Argon Medical Devices, is based in Texas. The complaint and asserted patents are available here.
New Suit Targets C.R. Bard
C.R. Bard, Inc., and Bard Peripheral Vascular, Inc., are the latest targets of a series of lawsuits brought by LifeScreen Sciences LLC. LifeScreen filed a patent infringement lawsuit in the District of Delaware on January 30 accusing C.R. Bard and Bard Peripheral of patent infringement. LifeScreen Sciences and LifePort Sciences have recently filed patent infringement suits against Cook, Inc., Cordis Corporation, Medtronic Corp., W.L. Gore & Associates Inc. and Endologix, Inc.
LifeScreen’s latest lawsuit alleges that C.R. Bard’s Meridian vena cava filter infringes several patents, including U.S. Patent No. 6,468,290, entitled “Two-Planar Vena Cava Filter With Self-Centering Capabilities,” which issued in 2002. The patent relates to a two-plane filter with filter wires with extensions that are applied against the wall of a vein and compel the filter “to adopt a position with its axis generally coincident with the axis of the vein…” The ‘290 patent was originally assigned to SciMed Life Systems, Inc.
LifeScreen’s other lawsuits have targeted similar technologies. For example, on January 23, 2013, LifeScreen filed lawsuits in Delaware and Texas alleging infringement of U.S. Patent No. 6,214,025, entitled “Self-Centering, Self-Expanding and Retrievable Vena Cava Filter,” a patent originally assigned to Boston Scientific.
The complaint and asserted patents in LifeScreen Sciences v. C.R. Bard are available here.
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