A Massachusetts jury handed Hologic (NSDQ:HOLX) a $4 million setback today in a patent infringement battle with Smith & Nephew (FTSE:SN, NYSE:SNN) over Hologic’s MyoSure fibroid surgery device.
The Bedford, Mass.-based women’s health giant bought the lawsuit along with Interlace Medical for $125 million in early 2011. Interlace developed the MyoSure device, a hysteroscopic system designed to remove fibroids — benign tumors of the uterus — in an out-patient procedure, using a high-speed cutting blade.
The lawsuit, the consolidation of two cases filed by the British orthopedic devices giant against Interlace and then Hologic, alleges infringement of a pair of patents covering the MyoSure technology.
"On Sept. 4, 2012, the jury in the trial returned a verdict in S&N’s favor," according to a press release. "As a part of this verdict, the jury awarded S&N the sum of $4 million as damages for lost profits."
Hologic said its deal for Interlace indemnified it "up to a previously defined dollar amount … for potential associated liabilities."
"We intend to continue to market and sell the MyoSure product and, if necessary, will pursue the appellate process," Hologic general counsel Mark Casey said in prepared remarks.
In the first lawsuit, filed against Interlace in 2010, alleged that former Interlace chief technology officer Ronald Adams, an SNN employee from 2002 to 2006, of bringing the technology with him when he jumped ship for the then-startup. Smith & Nephew sued Hologic, along similar grounds, after its Interlace buyout last year.
Interlace won 510(k) clearance for the system in October 2009, raised $21 million in June 2010 in a Series C round aimed at commercializing the MyoSure system. The company also won a $75,000 tax break from the Mass. Life Sciences Center to foster the creation of 10 permanent life science jobs in the Bay State. In 2009, Interlace landed a $300,000 tax break from the Commonwealth.
