Boston Scientific to pay $42 million for patent infringement to TissueGen, University of Texas System
by John R. Fischer, Senior Reporter | February 14, 2023
Business Affairs
Boston Scientific will pay $42 million for patent infringement to TissueGen and The Board of Regents of the University of Texas System.
Delaware Judge Gregory Williams has ordered Boston Scientific to pay $42 million to the Board of Regents of the University of Texas System and TissueGen, a laboratory, after a jury found it guilty of infringing on a patent for a drug-eluting stent.
Developed by TissueGen founder Kevin Nelson while working at UT Arlington, the solution delivers drugs at variable rates through an extruded fiber in an implanted vascular stent.
The patent was issued in 2003 and licensed to TissueGen, which launched its biodegradable Elute drug-loaded fibers in 2013.
Boston Scientific gained FDA clearance for its drug-coated stent Synergy system in 2015 to treat coronary artery disease, using a polymer that slows the release of drugs over three months.
TissueGen alleges that Boston Scientific knew of its IP claim after Nelson met and told two of its executives about the technology in 2008 and sent a presentation about it to one. Boston Scientific says that its executives met with Nelson but that its technology does not infringe on TissueGen’s because the Synergy system does not have a biodegradable polymer fiber.
Filed in Texas in 2017, the suit was eventually moved to Delaware where, on January 31 following a five-day trial, the jury sided with TissueGen’s claim that Boston Scientific used information it provided to create the polymer fibers on the SYNERGY stents.
“We are pleased to have achieved this result recognizing the importance, novelty, and value of Dr. Nelson’s innovations and the contributions of the University of Texas System that advanced lifesaving technology,” said Shore Firm founder Michael Shore.
In a statement, Boston Scientific told HCB News that it “respectfully disagrees” with the verdict and “plans to appeal.”
Nelson, who is now the chief scientific officer for TissueGen, told The Dallas Morning News that the fine is only a “tiny sliver” of what Boston Scientific earned from sales of its Synergy stents, and that an appeal could potentially “exhaust” TissueGen.
Developed by TissueGen founder Kevin Nelson while working at UT Arlington, the solution delivers drugs at variable rates through an extruded fiber in an implanted vascular stent.
The patent was issued in 2003 and licensed to TissueGen, which launched its biodegradable Elute drug-loaded fibers in 2013.
Boston Scientific gained FDA clearance for its drug-coated stent Synergy system in 2015 to treat coronary artery disease, using a polymer that slows the release of drugs over three months.
TissueGen alleges that Boston Scientific knew of its IP claim after Nelson met and told two of its executives about the technology in 2008 and sent a presentation about it to one. Boston Scientific says that its executives met with Nelson but that its technology does not infringe on TissueGen’s because the Synergy system does not have a biodegradable polymer fiber.
Filed in Texas in 2017, the suit was eventually moved to Delaware where, on January 31 following a five-day trial, the jury sided with TissueGen’s claim that Boston Scientific used information it provided to create the polymer fibers on the SYNERGY stents.
“We are pleased to have achieved this result recognizing the importance, novelty, and value of Dr. Nelson’s innovations and the contributions of the University of Texas System that advanced lifesaving technology,” said Shore Firm founder Michael Shore.
In a statement, Boston Scientific told HCB News that it “respectfully disagrees” with the verdict and “plans to appeal.”
Nelson, who is now the chief scientific officer for TissueGen, told The Dallas Morning News that the fine is only a “tiny sliver” of what Boston Scientific earned from sales of its Synergy stents, and that an appeal could potentially “exhaust” TissueGen.
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