Irvine heart valve maker Edwards Lifesciences Corp. said Friday that a British court determined that it did not infringe on a less-invasive heart valve patent held by Cook Inc.
Edwards prevailed against Bloomington, Ind.-based Cook this year in a related patent case. In March, a German district court ruled that Edwards’ Sapien less-invasive heart valve didn’t infringe on a German patent that Cook holds.
Sapien, which is inserted without major surgery, is projected to have more than $100 million in European sales this year and is in a large U.S. clinical trial.
Edwards is “gratified” with the British court’s decision, said Larry Wood, a corporate vice president who oversees the device maker’s transcatheter valve program, in a statement.
Cook plans to appeal the case “on all grounds,” said David McCarty, a company spokesman.
Edwards also has a separate lawsuit that claims that Cook’s German patent for its less-invasive valve is invalid. That suit is expected to be heard in Munich in 2010.
