PhotoMedex Sues Edwards and Baxter for $4 Million

CARLSBAD, Calif., Jan. 29 -- PhotoMedex Inc. announced today it has filed a lawsuit against Irvine, Calif.-based Edwards Lifesciences Corp. and its former parent company, Baxter Healthcare Corp., in the Superior Court of the State of California for Orange County.

PhotoMedex is seeking $4 million plus costs and interest in the lawsuit, in which it alleges Edwards breached a series of agreements between the companies for a project to develop and commercialize PhotoMedex's patented excimer laser technology to treat heart-related diseases. The lawsuit also alleges that Edwards improperly granted to a competitor certain rights to the heart-related proprietary technology, which PhotoMedex says it owns under the agreements and which it says it had acquired at Baxter's insistence for $4 million.

Lifesciences Corp., of Irvine, Calif., makes instruments for cardiovascular disease patients including replacement valves, valve repair equipment, hemodynamic monitoring systems, catheters, surgical clips and inserts and artificial implantable grafts. PhotoMedex, which has offices in Carlsbad and in Montgomery, Pa., develops proprietary excimer laser and fiber optic systems for treatment of cardiovascular and vascular disease and for dermatological applications such as psoriasis.

Edwards Lifesciences also announced today that it has entered into an agreement with Carbomedics Inc., of Austin, Texas, to settle patent infringement litigation initiated by Edwards on June 6, 2002 and Sept. 17, 2003 related to certain Edwards patents in the areas of heart valve repair and replacement. The litigation, filed in the US District Court in Delaware, has been dismissed. Under terms of the settlement, Edwards will receive a one-time cash payment of $2.5 million and has granted Carbomedics a royalty-bearing license on three Edwards patents related to annuloplasty products used in heart valve repair procedures. Further details of the settlement were not disclosed.

For more information, visit: photomedex.com