Judge pares $20m verdict in doc’s patent spat with Medtronic

A federal judge in Texas reduced a $20.3 million verdict against Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) by $2.6 million this week, ruling that Dr. Mark Barry did not present sufficient evidence that the company infringed 1 of its patents overseas. The judge from the District Court for Eastern Texas upheld that the company infringed 2 device patents in the U.S. and that the patents are valid.

Barry sued Medtronic in February 2014, alleging infringement for 3 patents covering a “system and method for aligning vertebrae in the amelioration of aberrant spinal column deviation conditions.”

The case went to trial in November that year and after 1 week, the jury sided with Barry, awarding $15.1 million for the infringment of 1 of the patents in the U.S., more than $2.6 million for infringement of the 2nd patent in the U.S., and $2.6 million for the infringement of the patent overseas.

Just 1 day before the trial came to a close, the medical device giant asked for judgment as a matter of law, according to court documents.

Although Barry did not present sufficient evidence to support the November verdict regarding its patents overseas, the court ruled that he did present sufficient evidence showing that Medtronic actively induced infringement of the 2 patents in the U.S.

Medtronic said yesterday that the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued a National Coverage Determination which will cover leadless cardiac pacemakers, such as the company’s Micra TPS.

Medicare patients will have access to Medtronic’s Micra through Medicare’s policy of Coverage with Evidence Development, thanks to the new designation.

The Micra transcatheter pacing system is 1/10th the size of a conventional pacemaker, roughly the size of a large vitamin, and features an estimated 12-year battery life. It is designed to be implanted via catheter in the right ventricle to deliver single-chamber pacing and is approved as safe for full-body MRI scans, according to the company.

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