Arthrex this month paid $5.6 million in a royalty settlement and release agreement with Tiger X Medical, previously known as Cardo Medical, according to an SEC filing.
The payment relates to a previously inked asset purchase agreement, signed in January 2011, in which Arthrex picked up Cardo Medical’s arthroplasty division, including all hip and knee assets.
California-based Cardo Medical developed “high performance reconstructive devices to replace knee and hip joints that have deteriorated through disease or injury,” according to an Arthrex press release from the original purchase agreement.
The recently made payment satisfies all debts between the companies, according to the SEC filing.
In January, a federal judge in New Jersey handed a win to KFx Medical in the latest in a string of spats between it and orthopedics rival Arthrex.
KFx sued Arthrex in August 2011, alleging infringement of its patents by Arthrex’s SutureBridge and SpeedBridge devices for rotator cuff repair and Achilles tendon repair. In October 2013 a jury found for KFx, awarding $29 million in damages. Judge Dana Sabraw of the U.S. District Court for Southern California later denied an Arthrex motion for a new trial and tacked on another $1.9 million in damages and prejudgment interest of 7%.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit last January denied Arthrex’s appeal, prompting the Naples, Fla.-based company to ask the appeals bench for a full, en banc review. In April, the Federal Circuit denied that bid and issued an April 17 mandate enforcing the ruling; Arthrex later coughed up $35 million to satisfy the judgment. Last November the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the case.
