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Will
Medtronic Get An Rx (Rapid Exchange)
For
Its Endeavor Stent?
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October 23, 2008 (updated)
-- Ending a prohibition that has lasted almost a decade, federal
court judge
D. Lowell Jensen of the Northern District of California ordered
yesterday that the injunction preventing Medtronics access to
the Rapid Exchange (RX) delivery system will end on October 29,
2008.
Paul Yock,
MD |
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Currently Medtronic (NYSE: MDT)
is the only one of the big four stent manufacturers that does
not
have
the Rapid Exchange technology -- a design which allows one operator
to perform a stent placement (i.e. "two hands") as opposed to
the older configuration of two operators ("four hands"). Abbott
got the RX patents (also called the "Yock patents", after stent
and IVUS inventor, Dr. Paul Yock of Stanford) when it acquired
the vascular business of Guidant in 2006. When Boston Scientific
acquired Schneider a decade ago, it gained the monorail rapid
exchange technology
invented by German cardiologist Tassilo Bonzel. Cordis / Johnson & Johnson
licenses the technology, but Medtronic has been frozen out --
until now. |
Lack of a rapid exchange system has hampered adoption
of the Medtronic Endeavor stent because most cardiologists prefer
RX as a simpler,
faster and less labor-intensive system. Even so, in May Medtronic
reported gaining 20% of the U.S. stent market. Two months later,
Abbott's XIENCE stent (also marketed by Boston Scientific as the
PROMUS) was approved by the F.D.A. and has rapidly become one of
the most popular devices, pushing Medtronic's market share to the
low teens. Analysts feel that the availability of a rapid exchange
catheter will help Medtronic regain some of those sales.
The Yock patents were scheduled to expire on October
29, but Abbott recently
prevailed
on the U.S.
Patent
and
Trademark
Office
to extend
the patent -- and last week the Office granted a one-year interim
extension. However, this new legal action in effects terminates that
restriction and will allow Medtronic to begin manufacturing and distributing
rapid exchange
balloons and
stents in seven days.
Abbott
has yet to signal a counter move and Medtronic has stated that
it will continue to abide by the injunction until October 29, after
which time the company will announce its commercial intent.
Reported by Burt Cohen, October 23, 2008
(updated)
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