Masimo Corp., an Irvine-based medical device maker, won another round in a long-running patent scrum with a larger rival.
The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., upheld a $164.5 million jury award to Masimo from Nellcor Puritan Bennett Inc., part of Tyco International Ltd.
The decision was based on a 2004 finding by a Los Angeles federal jury that Nellcor’s Oximax and Oxismart XL pulse oximeters violated Masimo’s patents.
“Masimo and the firm are obviously pleased with the court’s decision,” said Joseph Re, a partner with Knobbe, Martens, Olson & Bear LLP, Masimo’s Irvine-based law firm.
Masimo’s primary product is a pulse oximeter, which attaches to a finger or a toe. The device measures oxygen levels in critically ill patients or babies and sounds an alarm when readings fall outside normal limits.
Masimo’s device has a feature known as signal extraction technology, which it says cuts down on false alarms and other misreadings due to patient motion or low blood flow.
The jury’s decided that Masimo invented and patented pulse oximeters that read through patient motion, according to Re.
A Tyco spokeswoman said her company is weighing its options after the decision.
“While we are disappointed with the court’s decision, we are taking a close look at the opinion and will decide our next steps shortly,” Tyco’s Sheri Woodruff said.
In the past, Nellcor has said it hadn’t infringed on Masimo’s patents.
Masimo and Nellcor have traded several patent suits in the past decade. In 1999, Masimo sued Nellcor for allegedly violating patents on its motion-tolerant pulse oximetry patents.
Nellcor then went on the offensive, filing patent suits of its own against Masimo’s signal processing technology. In early 2004, a federal court ruled that seven of Masimo’s patents didn’t infringe on Nellcor’s technology, according to Masimo.
“We have always maintained that Nellcor’s assertions of infringement were merely a defensive response to our patent infringement suit filed against Nellcor in 1999,” said Joe Kiani, Masimo’s chief executive and cofounder.
Masimo is known as a battling, scrappy company that’s not afraid to take on the bigger companies in its sector. Three years ago, it won a contract from Premier Inc., a large nonprofit that helps hospitals buy supplies and equipment, to offer its members pulse oximeters and sensors.
That deal came in the wake of heavy criticism of Premier’s predilection to award buying pacts to larger device makers. A Senate subcommittee criticized Premier and Novation Inc., an Irving, Texas-based rival group, for not signing deals with smaller companies such as Masimo.
Allergan Alums Ready for Offering
SkinMedica Inc., a specialty drug maker founded by a former official of Irvine-based Allergan Inc., could offer up to 5.25 million shares for $11 to $13 a share in its upcoming initial public offering.
SkinMedica is based just across the county line in Carlsbad and could raise $65 million in the offering.
SG Cowen & Co., Piper Jaffray, Thomas Weisel Partners LLC and CE Unterberg, Towbin are serving as SkinMedica’s underwriters. In a federal filing, SkinMedica said that underwriters have the option to buy an additional 787,500 shares to cover over-allotments.
Rex Bright, a former official with Allergan, is SkinMedica’s chief executive and an investor, along with David Hale and Cam Gardner, a pair of San Diego biotech veterans.
Bright served as president of Allergan’s skin care unit when it was part of SmithKline Beecham, now GlaxoSmithKline PLC.
SkinMedica has other Orange County ties. Dennie Dyer, the drug maker’s vice president of operations, previously worked at PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. of Cypress. And SkinMedica’s financial backers include Domain Associates LLC, a venture capital firm with offices in Laguna Niguel and Princeton, N.J.
Products include Vaniqa, which impedes the growth of facial hair on women, and EpiQuin Micro, used to treat skin hyperpigmentation.
I-Flow Lands Customers
I-Flow Corp., a Lake Forest medical device maker, has signed several contracts with managed care companies, including MultiPlan, a New York-based preferred provider organization.
The pacts are for I-Flow’s On-Q pain relief system, which the company touts as an alternative to narcotic painkillers after surgery. On-Q delivers local anesthetics to relieve pain from surgeries including caesarean sections, hysterectomies and knee replacements.
The deals bring the products availability to some 30 million MultiPlan and other patients.
Bits and Pieces:
Ista Pharmaceuticals Inc., Irvine, said that third-phase clinical results for its Vitrase medication showed a statistically significant reduction in vitreous hemorrhage, or back-of-the-eye bleeding. Currently, no drug treatments are available for the condition. Vitrase does have Food and Drug Administration approval as a spreading agent for other drugs Talbert Medical Group, Costa Mesa, said it has started installing electronic medical records throughout the organization. Talbert, which has nine locations in Orange and Los Angeles counties, said it expects to complete the project next February Patient Care Technology Systems, Mission Viejo, said that Christiana Care Health System of Wilmington, Del., is using its Amelior EDTracker emergency department software.
