Terumo Cardiovascular Systems Responds to Allegations of Patent Infringement

Terumo Cardiovascular Systems (Terumo CVS) announced yesterday that it is responding to a patent infringement complaint by Maquet Cardiovascular LLC. The complaint alleges that Terumo CVS and its parent company, Terumo Corporation, had infringed on two patents related to the sale of the Terumo^® VirtuoSaph™ Endoscopic Vein Harvesting System.

Terumo CVS states that its policy and its practice are not to infringe on the valid intellectual property rights of any company. The VirtuoSaph system is protected by multiple Terumo patents.

"Frankly, we’re surprised at this lawsuit as these patents are several years old and our product has been on the market for more than three years with great success," says Mark DiClemente, Vice President, Sales, Terumo Cardiovascular Systems. "Our competitor has only recently entered the vessel harvesting market through an acquisition."

Terumo CVS has sold the VirtuoSaph system in the United States since January 2005. The product is also distributed in Japan and Asia by Terumo Corporation 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, the surgeon removes a healthy artery or vein from elsewhere in the body, most often the saphenous vein in the leg, and uses it to route blood around a blockage in a coronary artery. The VirtuoSaph system allows the surgical team to remove the saphenous vein using very small incisions. Endoscopic procedures have been shown to minimize scarring, morbidity and infection associated with traditional longitudinal incisions.

Terumo Cardiovascular Systems Corporation manufactures and markets medical devices for the global cardiac surgery markets. The company is headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan with manufacturing operations in Ann Arbor; Elkton, Maryland; Ashland, Massachusetts; and Tustin, California. It is one of several subsidiaries of Terumo Corporation of Japan focused exclusively on the cardiac and vascular markets, including Terumo Heart 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 annual sales in excess of ¥270,000 million 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, interventional procedures, transfusion medicine, and needle and syringe products.