Confluent Surgical

Jun 11, 2018

18:10 EDT 11 Jun 2018 | Businesswire HyperBranch Medical Technology, Inc. announced today that on June 8, 2018, after a two-week trial in federal district court in Wilmington, Delaware, an 8-member jury found in favor of HyperBranch on all remaining claims and legal defenses at issue in a patent infringement lawsuit filed by Integra LifeSciences Corp., Integra LifeSciences Sales LLC, Confluent Surgical , Inc. and Incept LLC (collectively, “Integra”). The lawsuit, filed on September 15, 2015, originally contended that HyperBranch willfully infringed 109 claims within U.S. Patent Nos. 7,009,034, 7,592,418, 7,332,566, 6,566,406, 8,003,705, and 8,535,705 through its manufacture, use, and sale of its Adherus dural sealant products. Integra also filed with its complaint a motion for a preliminary injunction. Related Biotechnology, Pharmaceutical and Healthcare News HyperBranch defeated Integra’s preliminary injunction motion in 2016. Before trial, the Court agreed with HyperBranch that all asserted claims of U.S. Patent No. 6,566,406 are invalid for indefiniteness, and that HyperBranch has not infringed any of the asserted claims of U.S. Patent No. 8,535,705. In addition, on April 3, 2018, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”) of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office held in an InterPartes Review proceeding that certain claims of U.S. Patent No. 7,009,034 are unpatentable for obviousness. For trial, Integra selected what it believed to be the seven best remaining claims from the four remaining patents-in-suit. After hearing six days of testimony from fact and expert witnesses and viewing numerous exhibits admitted into evidence, the jury unanimously determined that HyperBranch has not infringed any of the 7 asserted claims. The jury also found that all four asserted claims from U.S. Patent Nos. 7,009,034, 7,592,418, and 7,332,566 are invalid for obviousness and lack of written description, and that all three asserted claims from U.S. Patent No. 8,003,705 are invalid for anticipation, obviousness, and indefiniteness. Notably, the jury’s anticipation and obviousness findings as to U.S. Patent No. 8,003,705 were based on HyperBranch’s own published patent application being invalidating prior art. HyperBranch intends to file a motion pursuant to 35 U.S.C. Section 285 asking the Court to deem the case to be exceptional and award HyperBranch its attorneys’ fees and other defense costs. HyperBranch will argue in its motion, as it did before the jury, that Integra filed and prosecuted this lawsuit in an attempt to snuff out lawful competition from a start-up company with superior products, not to protect valid patents from infringement. In that regard, HyperBranch’s motion will highlight undisputed evidence presented during the trial, including documents from Integra’s own files and testimony from its witnesses and independent neurosurgeons, establishing that (i) the Adherus hydrogel is superior to DuraSeal—a “super sealant” in Integra’s words—(ii) HyperBranch’s innovative AutoSpray applicator clearly outperforms Integra’s troubled manual applicator for DuraSeal, and (iii) Integra has failed to implement any product improvements for DuraSeal since acquiring Confluent Surgical, Inc. in 2014. As the Court held in denying Integra’s request for a preliminary injunction over two years before the trial: [T]he record is replete with compelling evidence that the AutoSpray product is an attractive choice over DuraSeal due to a feature that undisputedly has nothing to do with the asserted patents—its applicator . . . . This evidence unquestionably shows that: (1) DuraSeal’s applicator was associated with significant problems; (2) the AutoSpray product’s applicator did not have such problems; and (3) this would be an important reason (perhaps the primary reason) why physicians and hospitals would choose the AutoSpray product over the DuraSeal product. About HyperBranch Medical Technology, Inc. HyperBranch Medical Technology, Inc. is a medical technology company focused on delivering superior patient and physician experiences through products designed to minimize post-surgical complications. HyperBranch’s platform of products provides effective and easy-to-use solutions to simplify everything from preparation to surgical application. HyperBranch’s core products, Adherus AutoSpray Dural Sealant and Adherus AutoSpray ET Dural Sealant, combine to enable neurosurgeons to precisely apply a strong, long-lasting, highly adherent sealant during cranial and spinal (outside the US only) procedures. HyperBranch is committed to broadening its product portfolio with high-quality, purposeful innovations for the global biosurgical market. For more information, please visit the Company's website at www.hyperbranch.com . View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180611006271/en/ HyperBranch Medical Technology, Inc.