Abbott Labs sued by doc over heart device patent

Abbott Laboratories, which recently lost the largest verdict in the history of patent litigation, was sued by a New Jersey doctor who claims the company infringed his patent used for heart devices.

Bruce Saffran earlier won a $500 million verdict against Boston Scientific Corp. over the same patent. Boston Scientific later settled the suit for unspecified terms, saying it would take a $50 million charge related to the accord.

In the suit filed yesterday in federal court in Marshall Texas, Saffran said Abbott has produced and sold products that use his invention related to stents, tiny mesh tubes used to prop open heart arteries after they've been cleared of fat.

"Abbott has willfully undertaken and carried out the aforesaid infringing activity with knowledge of" the patent, according to the lawsuit.

A representative for the Libertyville Township-based drugmaker didn't immediately return a call seeking comment.

In June, in the same jurisdiction, Abbott Labs was told to pay a record $1.67 billion to Johnson & Johnson for using its invention to produce the Humira arthritis drug.

Saffran, a Princeton, New Jersey, radiologist, sued Boston Scientific over its Taxus stents and a federal jury in Marshall, Texas, awarded him $431 million in damages. A judge later added $69 million in interest before the case was settled in March.

The case is Saffran v. Abbott Laboratories, 09cv256, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas (Marshall).