2 min reading time

My friend Stephen Carter from Mewburn Ellis gave a 10-minute talk about the European Unitary Patent Package at the 10x Medical Device Conference in May 2016 – before the Brexit vote.

His worthwhile summary at http://medgroup.biz/EU-patents (free access, no log on required). If you have a European patent, or aspirations to get a European patent or licenses, this is going to impact you.

Stephen explained, in Q1 2017 we should see a “single patent that gives you protection across the whole of the EU. We also expect a single Unified Patent Court with jurisdiction not only over this new European Unitary Patent but also over existing European patents that have already been granted.”

I caught up with Stephen this week and asked him how Brexit will affect the EU patent package and he replied,

“On 28 November the UK government announced it will proceed to ratify the Unified Patent Court Agreement. The UK and Germany are the two countries left to ratify for the Court to open its doors, so a start date in 2017 for the Court is still possible and the Life Science’s part of the Central Division can still open in London.”

While the UK’s longer term involvement in the UPC system following Brexit remains unclear, “patent proprietors and licensees should be considering now how they wish to proceed. All current European patents will automatically fall under the jurisdiction of the UPC when it comes into force, unless the proprietor opts out of the system.”

Visit http://medgroup.biz/EU-patents for access to his 10-minute video, slides, and transcript.

Do you have European patents? If we’ve taught you something new and relevant for your business today, leave a comment below for Stephen!

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Immediate Opportunity for Orthopedic Soft Goods Manufacturer

I’m compelled to share this opportunity with the group. A friend has a tremendous opportunity for a company that meets the profile below.

• You are a U.S. based medical device company that has been specializing in orthopedic rehabilitation products for decades.
• You produce hundreds of products for cervical/spine, upper extremity and lower extremity conditions.
• Your products include:
– Cervical/Spine: Neck, Back
– Upper Extremity: Shoulder, Elbow, Wrist/Hand
– Lower Extremity: Hip, Calf/Thigh, Knee, Foot/Ankle

If you’re a fit, please email me directly at JHage@MedicalDevicesGroup.net with a link to your website. The deal would need to be secured by year’s end.

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How to Get an Insurer to Reimburse Your Device

Ask Senior Medical Technology Analyst Nic Anderson how to get him to approve your device at payer Intermountain Health and he’ll tell you:

“While evidence of analytical or clinical validity are important, they are insufficient in-and-of themselves for payment. Payers need evidence of clinical utility illustrated in a dossier.”

If you are responsible for getting reimbursement from insurers, I urge you to watch Nic’s entire presentation and view his slides at http://medgroup.biz/get-paid. At $49, it’s like getting Nic’s advice for $20 an hour so you can’t beat the value (Onsite guests paid $325 for the same content).

Thank you, Nic!

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Enjoy your holidays with loved ones,

Joe Hage
Medical Devices Group Leader

P.S. Catch up on your reading this holiday at http://medicaldeviceevents.com/blog

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Meghan M. Alonso
Global Sales, Marketing, and GTM Strategy for Medical Devices, Diagnostics, and Life Sciences
We talked about this at the DeviceTalks event too… hope it will go through soon!

Komal N
Sr. Corporate Communicator | Food and Beverages | ICT, Semiconductor at Allied Market Research
Nice Read Joe Hage…