Medical technology company Emboline has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Italy-based AorticLab, alleging that the latter infringed its intellectual property.

The complaint was lodged on 28 October with the Unified Patent Court's local division in Munich, Germany.

The lawsuit is linked to Emboline’s embolic medical device, which is intended to offer protection from ischemic events.

Dubbed the Emboliner Embolic Protection Catheter, the device is claimed to provide comprehensive protection to the brain and body from ischemic events such as strokes, resulting from embolic debris release into the bloodstream at the time of transcatheter heart procedures.

Emboline president and CEO Scott Russell said: "Emboline pioneered TAVR embolic protection starting with the introduction of transcatheter aortic valve replacement in 2002. Emboline has since built a significant portfolio of intellectual property surrounding embolic protection.

"Strokes remain a real and devastating consequence of TAVR, and the need for safe, effective and easy-to-use embolic protection had resulted in several companies pursuing this market, with some designs emulating key protected features of the Emboliner device. Emboline wants to make clear that we will vigorously defend our intellectual property."

Emboline has secured additional patents for embolic protection technologies that could be applied across various interventional procedures.

Currently, the company is carrying out the Protect the Head to Head IDE trial of the Emboliner, treating the first subject, in May 2023.

The patient was treated at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center in the US.

This study aims to validate the safety of the device against a control device to reduce stroke risk from transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR).