OrbusNeich Medical leveled another accusation of chicanery against Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX) today, accusing its rival of lying about the presence of banned stents in Germany and of trying to block their seizure.
A German court in April granted an injunction against importing into that country drug-eluting stents including versions of Boston Scientific’s Promus Element, Promus Element Plus, Omega, Taxus Element, Synergy and Promus Premier devices. Earlier this month the Dusseldorf Regional Court issued a 2nd injunction after Orbus alleged that BSX was trying an end-run around t he injunction by using a British subsidiary.
Today Ft. Lauderdale- and Hong Kong-based OrbusNeich said it successfully seized more than 190 stent systems from BSX, but only after Boston Scientific representatives at a Ratingen, Germany, facility initially denied access, saying none of the affected stents were on the premises, according to a press release.
"In violation of the court’s April 30, 2013 preliminary injunction, Boston Scientific initially denied access to search its premises – the court’s decision grants OrbusNeich the right to seize stents in the possession of Boston Scientific that have been commercially distributed but not yet used," according to the release. "Boston Scientific claimed that none of the concerned stent systems were in its possession at the location in Ratingen. Only after the police were called did Boston Scientific allow the bailiff to search the building and seize the products."
Orbus won a 2nd injunction May 13, after accusing Natick, Mass.-based Boston Scientific of trying to evade the injunction by using a pair of British subsidiaries "to intentionally circumvent a prior order of the court banning sales of the same stent systems in Germany by other entities in the Boston Scientific corporate group," OrbusNeich said at the time.
Boston Scientific told MassDevice.com in an emailed statement that it had no response to the "inaccuracies" in the OrbusNeich accusations.
"We have no interest in fighting this issue in the media, and therefore will not respond to all the inaccuracies laid out in the OrbusNeich release issued today. As we have stated previously, Boston Scientific believes that the OrbusNeich claims are without legal merit and are intended to cause business disruption. We have appealed the preliminary injunction and look forward to making our case through the appropriate legal channels," according to the statement.
