NASDAQ, TSX: NVCN
VANCOUVER, April 17, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - Neovasc Inc.
("Neovasc" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: NVCN)(TSX: NVCN), a leader in
the development of minimally invasive transcatheter mitral valve
replacement technologies and in the development of minimally
invasive devices for the treatment of refractory angina, today
announced that the Company has resolved the three claims for
correction of patent inventorship made by Edwards Lifesciences
CardiAQ LLC ("CardiAQ") in the United
States District Court for the District of Massachusetts ("the Court").
For reasons of efficiency and economy, and without reaching the
merits of the dispute, the parties agreed to a judgment ordering
CardiAQ's Jeremy Brent Ratz and
Arshad Quadri be added as
co-inventors of U.S. Patent No. 9,241,790, U.S. Patent No.
9,248,014 and U.S. Patent No. 9,770,329, which the Court
ordered. Each of these patents is directly related to and
claims priority to the patent application that led to U.S. Patent
No. 8,579,964, on which the Court had previously added Mr. Ratz and
Dr. Quadri as co-inventors in November, 2016. In summary:
- Each side agreed to bear its own fees and costs in the
matter;
- No money damages were at issue or awarded; and
- The addition of inventors will not restrict Neovasc from
practicing these patents going forward.
"We have been working diligently to clear the Company from a
number of claims and the conclusion of this matter is also the
conclusion of the last active claims that the Company is aware of,"
commented Fred Colen, Neovasc
CEO. "The German Appeals Court win provided us with further
strategic options to resolve these claims and we have maintained
the rights to practice our entire Tiara patent portfolio of 10
granted U.S. patents and 16 pending U.S. patents in order to
preserve the unique and proprietary nature of our Tiara system. We
will also continue to add to this portfolio as we seek to optimize
our transapical design and protect our transfemoral, transseptal
version of the Tiara."
About Neovasc Inc.
Neovasc is a specialty medical
device company that develops, manufactures and markets products for
the rapidly growing cardiovascular marketplace. Its products
include the Neovasc Reducer™ (the "Reducer"), for the treatment of
refractory angina, which is not currently commercially available in
the United States and has been
commercially available in Europe
since 2015, and the Tiara™, for the transcatheter treatment of
mitral valve disease, which is currently under clinical
investigation in the United
States, Canada and
Europe. For more information,
visit: www.neovasc.com.
Certain statements in this news release contain forward-looking
statements within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and applicable Canadian securities
laws that may not be based on historical fact, including
without limitation statements containing the words "believe",
"may", "plan", "will", "estimate", "continue", "anticipate",
"intend", "expect" and similar expressions. Forward-looking
statements may involve, but are not limited to, beliefs or
expectations regarding the Company's ability to continue to add to
its patent portfolio and the rapidly growing cardiovascular
marketplace. Many factors and assumptions could cause the Company's
actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially
from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements,
including, without limitation, the substantial doubt about the
Company's ability to continue as a going concern; risks relating to
the senior secured convertible notes (the "Notes") issued pursuant
to the November 2017 private
placement (the "2017 Financing"), resulting in significant dilution
to the Company's shareholders; risks relating to the Company's need
for significant additional future capital and the Company's ability
to raise additional funding; risks relating to cashless exercise
and adjustment provisions in the Notes issued pursuant to the 2017
Financing, which could make it more difficult and expensive for the
Company to raise additional capital in the future and result in
further dilution to investors; risks relating to the sale of a
significant number of common shares of the Company; risks relating
to the conversion of Notes issued pursuant to the 2017 Financing,
which may encourage short sales by third parties; risks relating to
the possibility that the common shares of the Company may be
delisted from the Nasdaq Capital Market or the Toronto Stock
Exchange, which could affect their market price and liquidity;
risks relating to the Company's conclusion that it did not have
effective internal control over financial reporting as at
December 31, 2018; risks relating to
the Company's common share price being volatile; risks relating to
the influence of significant shareholders of the Company over the
Company's business operations and share price; risks relating to
the Company's significant indebtedness, and its effect on the
Company's financial condition; risks relating to claims by third
parties alleging infringement of their intellectual property
rights; risks relating to lawsuits that the Company is subject to,
which could divert the Company's resources and result in the
payment of significant damages and other remedies; the Company's
ability to establish, maintain and defend intellectual property
rights in the Company's products; risks relating to results from
clinical trials of the Company's products, which may be unfavorable
or perceived as unfavorable; the Company's history of losses and
significant accumulated deficit; risks associated with product
liability claims, insurance and recalls; risks relating to use of
the Company's products in unapproved circumstances, which could
expose the Company to liabilities; risks relating to competition in
the medical device industry, including the risk that one or more of
the Company's competitors may develop more effective or more
affordable products; risks relating to the Company's ability to
achieve or maintain expected levels of market acceptance for the
Company's products, as well as the Company's ability to
successfully build its in-house sales capabilities or secure
third-party marketing or distribution partners; the Company's
ability to convince public payors and hospitals to include the
Company's products on their approved products lists; risks relating
to new legislation, new regulatory requirements and the efforts of
governmental and third-party payors to contain or reduce the costs
of healthcare; risks relating to increased regulation, enforcement
and inspections of participants in the medical device industry,
including frequent government investigations into marketing and
other business practices; risks associated with the extensive
regulation of the Company's products and trials by governmental
authorities, as well as the cost and time delays associated
therewith; risks associated with post-market regulation of the
Company's products; health and safety risks associated with the
Company's products and industry; risks associated with the
Company's manufacturing operations, including the regulation of the
Company's manufacturing processes by governmental authorities and
the availability of two critical components of the Reducer; risk of
animal disease associated with the use of the Company's products;
risks relating to the manufacturing capacity of third-party
manufacturers for the Company's products, including risks of supply
interruptions impacting the Company's ability to manufacture its
own products; risks relating to the Company's dependence on limited
products for substantially all of the Company's current revenues;
risks relating to the Company's exposure to adverse movements in
foreign currency exchange rates; risks relating to the possibility
that the Company could lose its foreign private issuer status under
U.S. federal securities laws; risks relating to breaches of
anti-bribery laws by the Company's employees or agents; risks
associated with future changes in financial accounting standards
and new accounting pronouncements; risks relating to the Company's
dependence upon key personnel to achieve its business objectives;
the Company's ability to maintain strong relationships with
physicians; risks relating to the sufficiency of the Company's
management systems and resources in periods of significant growth;
risks associated with consolidation in the health care industry,
including the downward pressure on product pricing and the growing
need to be selected by larger customers in order to make sales to
their members or participants; risks relating to the Company's
ability to successfully identify and complete corporate
transactions on favorable terms or achieve anticipated synergies
relating to any acquisitions or alliances; risks relating to the
Company's ability to successfully enter into fundamental
transactions as defined in the Notes issued pursuant to the 2017
Financings; anti-takeover provisions in the Company's constating
documents which could discourage a third party from making a
takeover bid beneficial to the Company's shareholders; and risks
relating to conflicts of interests among the Company's officers and
directors as a result of their involvement with other issuers.
These risk factors and others relating to the Company are discussed
in greater detail in the "Risk Factors" section of the Company's
Annual Report on Form 20-F and in the Management's Discussion and
Analysis for the year ended December 31,
2018 (copies of which may be obtained at www.sedar.com or
www.sec.gov). The Company has no intention and undertakes no
obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements
beyond required periodic filings with securities regulators,
whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise,
except as required by law.
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SOURCE Neovasc Inc.