Medical Device

Emerging medical technologies face fierce competition

Saving lives, enhancing patients’ quality of life, improving healthcare delivery, and creating less-invasive ways to diagnose and treat diseases are top priorities for the medical device industry. The industry has had explosive growth and related challenges in recent years. Innovators face a highly litigious patent environment, tight profit margins, short product lifecycles, reimbursement programs that can affect product viability, and costly research and development activities that often require lengthy clinical trials. In addition, new devices must comply with Food and Drug Administration’s safety and marketing regulations that may require public disclosure of sensitive design information—all before the device is brought to market. To remain competitive, companies must protect and enforce their intellectual property rights.

Finnegan represents key innovators, including established multinational leaders as well as small, start-up companies, with IP assets that promise advancements in the field. Whatever the size of the company, having a legal advisor with specialized knowledge and experience is essential. Finnegan has delivered successful, sophisticated legal strategies to help medical device clients protect, advocate, and leverage their valuable IP assets. 

Understanding both the law and breakthrough science and technology

In high-stakes cases involving some of the most complex medical devices, our professionals rely on their deep legal and technical backgrounds. Our lawyers include former patent examiners in the medical device field, and many have degrees in the sciences and technologies behind medical devices and procedures, including mechanical and electrical engineering, biology, and chemistry. We provide insight and advice to clients on multidisciplinary issues that can have critical legal and business implications. As discoveries fuel the convergence of the medical device, pharmaceutical, and diagnostics industries, having a legal team with diverse experience and knowledge of these industries becomes essential.

Far-reaching experience

We work with medical device clients across a broad range of disciplines and technology, including:

• Advanced algorithms
• Diabetes and blood glucose self-testing
• Diagnostic instruments and methods
• Digital signal processing
• Drug-delivery systems
• Drug-eluting heart stents
• Electronic medical devices
• Endoscopy and urology/gynecology systems
• Implantable devices
• Interventional cardiology  
• Medical supplies
• Monitoring equipment
• Neuroscience
• Oncology
• Orthopedics and spine
• Pain care
• Surgical devices
• Therapeutic devices

Protection for cutting-edge advancements

Our clients are involved in diverse medical technologies, such as interventional cardiology, endoscopic surgery, diabetes management, and diagnostic tools and methods that allow for earlier detection of diseases and less invasive drug-delivery methods. We understand the highly competitive nature of the industry, the demands of investors and shareholders to generate value, and the importance of securing early and strong protection of IP rights. From determining the competitive landscape for new products to developing winning litigation strategies, we provide a full range of services to our medical device clients:

• Developing and executing prosecution strategies to both protect a client’s products and analyze those of its competitors, which helps ensure that the client realizes value from its IP assets.
• Analyzing the value of competitors’ patents.
• Counseling on transactional decisions.
• Preparing and negotiating licenses and other transactions to commercialize IP rights.
• Monitoring the field to advise clients on the need for clearance opinions or the possibility of an interference issue.
• Determining priority in complex interferences.
• Counseling on research and development options that minimize patent obstacles.
• Providing due diligence for merger and acquisition targets.
• Counseling on business-related matters, including antitrust and competition issues.
• Providing trademark prosecution and counseling services.
• Advising on potential litigation strategies and deploying experienced trial and appellate teams.

A diverse client base

We work with innovative clients of all sizes, including Fortune 100, Global 1000, and start-ups in the medical device industry. Our experience ranges from working with the in-house legal counsel of large companies on prosecution, due diligence, licensing, and high-stakes litigation to advising senior management of start-up companies on strategic business decisions to help get the company off the ground. 

Our clients include:

• Abbott Vascular
• Becton, Dickinson and Company
• The BrainScope Company
• ConforMIS
• Jenavalve
• Kinetic Concepts, Inc.
• Nipro Diagnostics, Inc.
• Vertos Medical, Inc.
• Welch Allyn, Inc.
• Zimmer