OTTAWA, ONTARIO — (Marketwire) — 06/04/12 — An Alabama federal jury has found against Abbott Point of Care Inc.-s allegations of patent infringement and contract interference related to the epoc® Blood Analysis System, a blood gas, electrolyte, and metabolite analyzer developed by rival company, Epocal Inc.
Abbott owns three patents, commonly referred to as the gas patents, related to technology and analytical methods leveraged in Abbott-s i-STAT® System, a handheld blood analyzer used primarily in critical care settings. Abbott had alleged that the epoc® Blood Analysis System infringed the company-s gas patents.
After hearing six days of testimony, however, the jury found that the technology and methods of analysis used in the epoc® blood analyzer were different from those claimed in the gas patents and that the epoc® blood analyzer did not infringe the patents. Additionally, the jury decided against Abbott-s allegations of contract interference, which stemmed from the fact that some Epocal employees had previously worked for Abbott Point of Care.
“It took the jury no more than two hours to conclude unanimously that Epocal-s technology is unique and did not infringe on any patents and that Epocal did not interfere with any contracts,” stated Dr. Lauks, Epocal-s Chief Executive Officer. “We are pleased that Abbott-s unfounded allegations have been repudiated. We look forward to providing continued support to our customers and to introducing novel, affordable testing solutions that will transform how care is delivered at the patient-s bedside.”
The epoc® Blood Analysis System relies on low-cost, smart-card diagnostic technology connected to a handheld mobile device to deliver lab-quality results at the patient-s bedside and facilitate immediate care decisions. It can be seamlessly integrated into any hospital workflow, enables centralized data management, and is significantly more cost-effective to implement than other point-of-care solutions. The platform-s diagnostic menu includes applications for general chemistries and future development will include immunoassay biomarkers, hematology, and hemostasis.
About Epocal
The epoc® System, the Company-s enterprise point-of-care blood analysis platform combines ultra-low-cost, smart-card-like diagnostic cards containing biosensors and fluidics-on-flex circuits with ultra-low-cost bedside card readers. The readers communicate wirelessly to a mobile handheld computer or PDA for immediate bedside results and to a portal on a hospital network for centralized data management. The platform delivers lab-quality results to the bedside at a significantly lower manufacturing cost than conventional point-of-care testing solutions. The product development pipeline includes cards for a variety of test applications including immunoassay biomarker tests, general chemistries, hematology and hemostasis.
Contacts:
Epocal Inc.
(613) 738-6192
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