Edwards awarded $394 million in heart valve case

Edwards Lifesciences Corporation secured another victory against its transcatheter heart valve rival Medtronic, whose CoreValve product was found to wilfully infringe one of Edwards’ patents in a verdict handed down on January 15.

The patent at issue covers Edwards’ Cribier transcatheter heart valve patent, which is due to expire in December 2017.

A jury at US District Court for the District of Delaware awarded Edwards $394 million in damages, which due to the wilfulness finding may be tripled. Edwards said it will move to enforce the verdict and intends to seek a permanent injunction against Medtronic.

Larry Wood, Edwards’ corporate vice president of transcatheter heart valves, said: “Edwards holds a number of important patents in transcatheter valve technology, and we intend to continue to defend this intellectual property when it is used by others without permission.”

A federal jury found that Medtronic’s CoreValve product wilfully infringes on another patent held by Edwards, covering the US Andersen transcatheter heart valve patent, in 2010.

Edwards received an initial payment of $84 million from Medtronic in 2013. Edwards is still waiting for a decision on its request to enjoin Medtronic’s entrance in the US market.

A statement on Edwards’ website said that because some of the sales were found to infringe both the Andersen and Cribier patents, part of the damages awarded in the Cribier case could be reduced.

Medtronic did not respond to LSIPR’s request for comment.