Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, Inc. got a favorable decision on its European Patent (No. 0706 376) from the European Patent Office Opposition Division. The European Patent Office maintained the validity of Angiotech’s patent with various claims, including claims to stents coated with paclitaxel and a polymeric carrier. Stents are tiny wire mesh tubes that are inflated inside plaque-congested blood vessels to prop them open. Drug-coated stents prevent irritated tissue from growing back through the mesh.
Angiotech also has an exclusive license to supply Boston Scientific Corp. with the cancer drug paclitaxel to coat the Taxus stent. Taxus paclitaxel-coated stents accounted for $640 million of Boston Scientific’s third-quarter coronary stent revenue of $686 million. See more.
