Angiotech to appeal UK judgment regarding UK patent
Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced that it intends to appeal a UK trial court decision to revoke Angiotech's UK designation of its European Patent No. 0,706,376. The UK trial court ruled that Angiotech's UK Patent lacked inventive step in light of certain prior art in a challenge brought by Conor MedSystems (Conor) filed in February 2005. This Patent, which applies to the UK only, is only one of a number in Angiotech's portfolio of patents protecting its pioneering paclitaxel stent technology, which cover the Boston Scientific TAXUS(TM) stent.
The Angiotech European Patent remains valid and enforceable in the other designated States in Europe, in light of Angiotech's successful defense of the patent at the January 2005 European Patent Office Opposition Division decision which maintained the validity of this Patent, including claims related to stents coated with paclitaxel and a polymeric carrier. The UK decision affects only the UK version of the maintained European Patent.
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