Company receives favorable opinion in patent infringement case with J&J, declines offer of mediation but will agree to direct back-channel settlement talks
LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / December 3, 2014 / Decision Diagnostics Corp. (OTC: DECN), the manufacturer, quality plan administrator and the exclusive worldwide sales, service and regulatory processes agent for the popular GenStrip(TM) 50, the FDA cleared Green Glucose Test Strip, specifically designed to work with the market leading Johnson & Johnson's (NYSE: JNJ) LifeScan Ultra family of glucose testing meters, today announced that the company, after having recently received a favorable ruling from the District Court on Markman Hearing issues, has received a request for mediation of its current litigation from the Lifescan division of Johnson & Johnson, and following the requested receipt of clarification , the Board of Directors has carefully considered the J&J's invitation and decided to decline due to a lack of specificity.
Since 2013, Phama Tech's legal positions regarding its popular GenStrip product have been repeatedly vindicated though a series of circuit and district court rulings denying important J&J positions and assertions, through preliminary and final rulings of non-patentability by the USPTO, and a seminal ruling from the Circuit Court. In addition, a recent ruling minimizes any on-going prosecution of patent infringement claims against Pharma Tech and its parent, was issued by a Northern California U.S. District Court judge resulting from an August 22, 2014 Markman Hearing.
Keith Berman, Principal Executive of DECN and President of Pharma Tech Solutions stated, "Our management and Board of Directors weighed the benefits to the company and DECN's share-holders of potentially participating in the J&J requested mediation. We initially responded with a request for additional clarification from J&J. After receiving insufficient specificity in their reply, the Board determined that we could not identify any advantage at this time to the companies, the diabetic marketplace or our shareholders through a private mediation."
Pharma Tech Solutions was initially sued in September 2011 by a division of J&J, prior to the FDA clearance of its GenStrip product. In early 2012 Pharma Tech assumed the required regulatory regimen for FDA market clearance of GenStrip. As has been previously reported, J&J responded to that imminent competitive threat by further leveraging the civil litigation courts to prevent the global diabetic patient population from enjoying the considerable price advantages of GenStrip. Through a strategic campaign of patent infringement lawsuits and legal threats directed to GenStrip prospective chain drug and mass merchandiser customers and Pharma Tech distributors, J&J was able to forestall the eventual and inevitable collapse of their OneTouch blood glucose test strip monopoly they held with their OneTouch Ultra meters.
William Lyons, Director for Decision Diagnostics continued, "The Companies are now prepared to extend our string of legal victories through the continued prosecution of our suit filed in August 2013 for anti-trust violations and false advertising. Although we had communicated to J&J that while aggressively pursuing this litigation, we would be receptive to direct discussions with certain stipulations, that offer may be shortly withdrawn. We have recently acquired information that should result in an amended filing of our existing lawsuit. Information related to this amended filing will be disclosed in an upcoming release."
Forward-Looking Statements:
This release contains forward-looking statements about our business or financial condition that reflect our assumptions and beliefs based on information currently available. We can give no assurance that the expectations indicated by such forward-looking statements will be realized. There may be other risks and circumstances that we are unable to predict. When used in this release, words such as "believes," "expects," "forecasts," "intends," "projects," "plans," "anticipates," "estimates," "will" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although there may be certain statements not accompanied by such expressions.
For further information about the Pharma Tech GenStrip, please visit the company's Web Sites: http://www.decisiondiagnostics.com or http://www.new-genstrip.com.
GenStriP(TM) test strips are a product of Pharma Tech Solutions, Inc., and are not manufactured, distributed, endorsed, or approved by nor associated with LifeScan, Inc. a Johnson & Johnson company, manufacturers and distributors of the OneTouch Ultra family of meters and OneTouch Ultra test strips.
Contact:
Decision Diagnostics Corp.
Keith Berman
(805) 446-2973
[email protected]
SOURCE: Decision Diagnostics Corp.