Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) is seeking damages and a permanent injunction against Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW), accusing its rival of patent infringement with its Sapien transcatheter aortic valve implantation system.
Medtronic claimed that the Sapien valve and its transfemoral delivery system infringe on 2 patents covering a "Method and system for nerve stimulation and cardiac sensing prior to and during a medical procedure."
The patents were issued in October 2011 and February 2007, according to court documents.
It’s the latest salvo in an ongoing heart valve patent war between the med-tech titans.
Edwards and Medtronic subsidiary CoreValve Inc. began the spat when the Irvine, Calif.-based rivals filed suit against each other in 2007. Medtronic inherited the beef when it purchased CoreValve and its TAVI system for $1 billion in 2009.
Edwards notched a $73.5 million win in April 2010, but in February of last year Judge Gregory Sleet of the U.S. District Court for Delaware rejected an Edwards motion to enjoin Medtronic from making and selling the aortic valve replacement device. Edwards promised to appeal the unfavorable ruling.
Sapien landed FDA clearance in November 2011 for treatments of patients too sick to undergo open-heart surgery. Medtronic’s CoreValve TAVI system is expected to hit the U.S. market in 2014.
The new lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.