Print
Email
Print Edition Stories
MHT's Julie Donnelly: Pharmaceuticals find drug development partners in colleges
Robotic surgery gains traction
Funding drugs for rare diseases
A Cambridge medical device maker might not seem likely to find grounds for legal conflict with the company behind the universally recognized housekeeping brand Arm and Hammer. However, that’s just what happened in a complaint filed Friday in Boston District Court. Inverness Medical Innovations Inc. (NYSE: IMA) is suing Church & Dwight Co. Inc. (NYSE: CHD), the Princeton, N.J -based owners of the Arm & Hammer brand, over First Response Gold, a home pregnancy test kit Church & Dwight makes for sale in the U.S.
According to the complaint, the First Response Gold product infringes a 2008 patent, held by Inverness, entitled “flow sensing for determination of assay results.” Inverness licenses the patented technology Swiss Precision Diagnostics GmbH, a company based in Switzerland, for use in a competing home pregnancy test product, called Clearblue Easy. The Cambridge medical technology company is also the exclusive U.S. importer, packager and reseller of Clearblue Easy.
The complaint alleges willful infringement and seeks treble damages, as well as an injunction against sale and manufacture of First Response Gold.
The patent specifically covers “an analytical device suitable for home testing,” which uses electronic readers in conjunction with optical methods of flow measurement.
Representatives could not immediately be reached for comment at Inverness or Church & Dwight.
Comments
If you are commenting using a Facebook account, your profile information may be displayed with your comment depending on your privacy settings. By leaving the 'Post to Facebook' box selected, your comment will be published to your Facebook profile in addition to the space below.
RSS Feeds
