Vascular Solutions Issues Patent Infringement Complaint Against Boston Scientific

Vascular Solutions, Inc.

announced today that it has filed a patent infringement complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota against Boston Scientific Corporation

. The complaint alleges that Boston Scientific has infringed three patents owned by Vascular Solutions concerning rapid exchange guide extension technology by manufacturing and selling its Guidezilla™ guide extension catheter which received 510(k) clearance in March 2013. Vascular Solutions is seeking an injunction against Boston Scientific prohibiting the manufacture and sale of its Guidezilla catheter as well as damages for lost profits and legal costs. U.S. Patents 8,048,032, 8,142,413 and 8,292,850, comprising 60 claims in total and having an initial filing date of May 2006, were issued by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office to Howard Root, et. al. and assigned to Vascular Solutions concerning rapid exchange guide extension technology. These patents form the basis for Vascular Solutions' GuideLiner® catheter, the first and until now only rapid exchange mother-and-child guide extension catheter. Since its launch in 2009, the GuideLiner catheter has been described by prominent interventional cardiologists as an "indispensable tool," a "game-changing device," and a catheter that "makes impossible cases possible."