Wyeth, J&J Sue Medtronic Over Stent Patents

Less than a month after the FDA approved Medtronic’s Endeavor drug-eluting stent, both Wyeth and Johnson & Johnson (J&J) filed suit over the product.

The companies filed a patent infringement suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey last month alleging the zotarolimus-eluting stent infringes on the claims of three patents owned by Wyeth and licensed to J&J — the ’781, ’146 and ’728 patents.

These patents relate to the use of rapamycin, or sirolimus, and its analogues — including zotarolimus. The ’781 patent describes a method of treating restenosis in humans undergoing a percutaneous transluminal angioplasty procedure with an effective amount of rapamycin. The ’146 and ’728 patents both describe a method of preventing or treating hyperproliferative vascular disease by administering rapamycin.

This lawsuit may not threaten Medtronic’s stent profits immediately. RBC Capital Markets analysts predicted the case “will probably take many years to work its way through the federal court system.”

The plaintiffs have asked the court to enjoin Medtronic from selling the stent in the U.S. While injunction requests are standard in such cases, they are rarely granted, RBC said.