Conmed (NSDQ:CNMD) said today that a jury today returned a $12.2 million verdict against it and its SurgiQuest subsidiary in a false advertising case with Lexion Medical.
The jury in the US Federal District Court for the District of Delaware found SurgiQuest liable for $2.2 million in compensatory damages and an additional $10 million in punitive damages, according to a press release from the Utica, N.Y.-based company.
“While we are disappointed in the jury’s verdict, we intend to pursue all post-trial and appellate remedies. This litigation will have no impact on the availability of, or Conmed’s ability to distribute, our innovative AirSeal access port or the AirSeal IFs unit,” Conmed GC Daniel Jonas said in a prepared statement.
The case between SurgiQuest and Lexion relates to claims that SurgiQuest engaged in false advertising in marketing literature related to its AirSeal system, and dates back to 2013, prior to Conmed’s acquisition of SurgiQuest last January.
“While we respect the jury’s verdict, this litigation does not take away from the outcomes experienced by the surgeons who have used the AirSeal in more than 600,000 surgeries to date. These products are the most technologically advanced and provide the only integrated access management system for robotic and laparoscopic surgery on the global market,” CEO Curt Hartman said in a press release.
Last week, Conmed inked a new licensing agreement with KFx Medical related to its knotless double row rotator cuff repair patents.
Through the agreement, ConMed and its subsidiaries will have the right to market products and techniques for knotless double row rotator cuff repair. The companies said that approximately 1/3rd of the rotator cuff repairs in the US use the technique for the anatomic reattachment of tendons.
