Tissue graft patent case set for trial in 2018

Allograft tissue provider Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation (MTF), a non-profit organisation, has announced that its patent dispute with biopharmaceutical company MiMedx will go to trial early next year.

The announcement comes after the US Patent Trial and Appeal Board deemed two of the initial six patents in the complaint filed by MiMedx to be invalid and the plaintiff agreeing that MTF hadn’t infringed three others.

MTF said in a statement that a trial for the one remaining patent in question will begin on January 22, 2018.

“MTF remains confident in our position that no patent infringement exists, and we look forward to presenting our case to the jury,” said Bruce Stroever, president and CEO of MTF.

“We expect to put this matter behind us in 2018 so we can focus all of our attention on the patients and physicians we serve.”

The initial complaint was filed at the US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia by MiMedx in April 2014, accusing MTF of infringing six patents relating to placental tissue grafts.

But after a series of rulings, only one patent is left in the case. In January, the dispute will focus on US patent number 8,709,494, which relates to a method for preparing placenta membrane tissue grafts for medical use.

MTF says on its website it is the largest tissue bank in the world.

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