Medtronic and Axonics — now part of Boston Scientific — have confidentially settled their long-running IP dispute.
Legal news sites, including Bloomberg Law, were the first to break the news this week.
A Medtronic spokesperson provided the following statement to MassDevice today:
“Medtronic and Boston Scientific are pleased to have reached a confidential settlement agreement that will resolve all outstanding litigation between Medtronic and Axonics, which was recently acquired by Boston Scientific. The settlement includes a confidential payment from Boston Scientific to Medtronic and enables both companies to focus on serving patients.”
The dispute dates back to 2019 when Medtronic filed a lawsuit against Axonics alleging patent infringements over sacral neuromodulation (SNM) technologies. Axonics’ r-SNM platform has rivaled Medtronic’s Interstim system in the neuromodulation space since its initial FDA approval in 2019.
Axonics’ technologies treat urinary and bowel dysfunction. Its fourth-generation R20 rechargeable SNM system received FDA approval in January 2023. Axonics also launched the recharge-free F15 SNM system in mid-2022.
The companies battled over this until February 2024, when Medtronic asked the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) to block the sales of certain Axonics devices. A month later, Medtronic announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office upheld many of its claims around two of its patents. It asked the federal court in the Central District of California to lift its stay on the lawsuit. This led to the jury trial, which concluded in Axonics’ favor.
Last September, a California jury found that Axonics did not infringe on any of the three patents-in-suit. Two months later, Boston Scientific completed its $3.7 billion acquisition of Axonics.
A stipulation of dismissal filed in the U.S. District Court for Central California earlier this week stated that five remaining claims related to patents were dismissed with prejudice. The court said each of Medtronic and Axonics shall bear their own costs in connection with the dismissed claims.
