Medtronic settles stent patent suit with Abbott to the tune of $400M
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According to the Abbott Park, Ill.-based Abbott, the settlement includes a mutual agreement not to pursue additional litigation on current and future vascular products, subject to specific conditions and time limits. Additional terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
The Minneapolis-based Medtronic said that under terms of the settlement, neither party will sue the other in the field of coronary stent and stent-delivery systems for at least 10 years, subject to certain conditions. In connection with the settlement, Medtronic expects to report in its first quarter financial results a special charge to be calculated in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP).
Medtronic has spent a great deal of time and money this year settling such disputes in the first quarter of 2009. In May, the company settled all royalty disputes with Johnson and Johnson for $270 million, which concerned its licensed use of the Palmaz, Schatz and Pinchuk stent patents. Also, in January, Boston Scientific and Medtronic settled two lawsuits and signed an agreement to stand down in three others, which stopped all litigation between the two companies in the fields of interventional cardiology and endovascular repair.