Singapore: OrbusNeich Medical, a coronary stent company headquartered in Hong Kong, received a favorable ruling from the European Patent Office (EPO) in connection with a European patent. The patent covers certain novel stents with helical structures. It was issued by the EPO to OrbusNeich in October 2010 and does not expire until December 2021.

OrbusNeich designs, develops, manufactures and markets innovative medical devices for the treatment of vascular diseases. Current products are the world's first pro-healing stent, the Genous stent, as well as other stents and balloons marketed under the names of Azule, R stent, Scoreflex, Sapphire, Sapphire II and Sapphire NC. The company has facilities in China, the US and the Netherlands.

In July 2011, Boston Scientific and Terumo Kabushiki Kaisha filed oppositions asking the EPO to revoke the particular patent, asserting that it was invalid. In response, OrbusNeich amended the claim of the patent to more clearly identify the scope of its novel, helical stents.

During oral proceedings held at The Hague, the EPO upheld the claim of the patent as amended. OrbusNeich says that the claim of the patent is infringed by current lines of Boston Scientific's stent systems. The company is evaluating all options related to its stent patent portfolio.