Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, Inc., announced today that the UK Court of Appeal released its decision (Conor v. Angiotech) regarding one of Angiotech's several patents related to paclitaxel-eluting stents. "As expected, given that the UK seldom upholds the rights of a patent holder, Angiotech's appeal to reverse a previous decision was denied," said Dr. Bill Hunter, President and CEO of Angiotech. "This decision does not impact other patents relating to our paclitaxel stent technology in the UK, and we continue to feel very confident in the strength of our patent portfolio protecting paclitaxel-eluting stents."

The patent in question represents only one of several patents in several patent families which provide international protection for Angiotech's paclitaxel-eluting stent technology. In Europe, after extensive Opposition proceedings, the European Patent Office upheld the validity of Angiotech's European counterpart of this UK patent. As a result, in all other designated member European countries of the EPO, this patent continues to be enforceable.