MINNEAPOLIS, Dec. 9, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vascular Solutions, Inc. (Nasdaq:VASC) announced today that the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota has granted Vascular Solutions' request for a preliminary injunction against Boston Scientific's Guidezilla guide extension catheter.
The preliminary injunction prohibits Boston Scientific from making, using, offering for sale or selling its Guidezilla catheter during the pendency of the parties' on-going patent infringement litigation. In granting the preliminary injunction, the Court found that Vascular Solutions had established that it is likely to succeed in establishing at trial that Boston Scientific infringes Vascular Solutions' three U.S. Patents covering rapid exchange guide extension by making and selling the Guidezilla catheter.
"This intellectual property forms the basis for Vascular Solutions' GuideLiner® catheter, the first and, until the recent launch of Boston Scientific's Guidezilla catheter, only rapid exchange mother-and-child guide extension catheter," said Howard Root, Chief Executive Officer of Vascular Solutions. "From Vascular Solutions' pioneering work in rapid exchange guide extension, our GuideLiner catheter has been described by prominent interventional cardiologists as an 'indispensable tool,' a 'game-changing device,' and a catheter that 'makes impossible cases possible.' We are pleased that the Court granted a preliminary injunction to stop Boston Scientific's continuing violation of Vascular Solutions' intellectual property rights while this litigation proceeds."
Vascular Solutions filed its patent infringement complaint against Boston Scientific in May 2013, with the litigation currently scheduled to be ready for trial on or after March 2015. The Court's grant of the preliminary injunction is subject to appeal by Boston Scientific to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
About Vascular Solutions
Vascular Solutions, Inc. is an innovative medical device company that focuses on developing unique clinical solutions for coronary and peripheral vascular procedures. The company's product line consists of more than 75 products in three categories: catheter products, hemostat products and vein products. Vascular Solutions delivers its products to interventional cardiologists, interventional radiologists, electrophysiologists, and vein specialists through its direct U.S. sales force and international independent distributor network.
The information in this press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements. Important factors that may cause such differences include those discussed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012 and other recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, risks associated with the need for adoption of our new products, lack of sustained profitability, exposure to intellectual property claims, significant variability in quarterly results, exposure to possible product liability claims, the development of new products by others, doing business in international markets, the availability of third party reimbursement, and actions by the FDA. The District Court grant of preliminary injunction may be stayed or overturned on appeal, and the granting of a preliminary injunction is not a determination of the ultimate merits of the litigation, which will be determined by the presentation of evidence at trial or in future dispositive motions.
For further information, connect to www.vasc.com.