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Terumo CVS states that its policy and its practice are not to infringe onthe valid intellectual property rights of any company. The VirtuoSaph systemis protected by multiple Terumo patents.
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"Frankly, we're surprised at this lawsuit as these patents are severalyears old and our product has been on the market for more than three yearswith great success," says Mark DiClemente, Vice President, Sales, TerumoCardiovascular Systems. "Our competitor has only recently entered the vesselharvesting market through an acquisition."
Terumo CVS has sold the VirtuoSaph system in the United States sinceJanuary 2005. The product is also distributed in Japan and Asia by TerumoCorporation and in Europe by Terumo's European subsidiary.
The VirtuoSaph system is used during coronary artery bypass grafting(CABG), the most common cardiac surgery procedure. During the procedure, thesurgeon removes a healthy artery or vein from elsewhere in the body, mostoften the saphenous vein in the leg, and uses it to route blood around ablockage in a coronary artery. The VirtuoSaph system allows the surgical teamto remove the saphenous vein using very small incisions. Endoscopicprocedures have been shown to minimize scarring, morbidity and infectionassociated with traditional longitudinal incisions.
Terumo Cardiovascular Systems Corporation manufactures and markets medicaldevices for the global cardiac surgery and interventional markets. Thecompany is headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan with manufacturing operationsin Ann Arbor; Elkton, Maryland; Ashland, Massachusetts; and Tustin,California. It is one of several subsidiaries of Terumo Corporation of Japanfocused exclusively on the cardiac and vascular markets, including TerumoHeart Inc., developer of a ventricular assist device. For more information,visit www.terumo-cvs.com.
Terumo Corporation is a premier global medical device company with annualsales in excess of 270,000 (million) yen for the year ending March 31, 2007.Founded in 1921, the company develops, manufactures and distributes world-class medical devices for use in cardiothoracic surgery, interventionalprocedures, transfusion medicine, and needle and syringe products.
SOURCE Terumo Cardiovascular Systems
