Ultrasound contrast war continues

The battle between ultrasound contrast companies over patents continues to rage on. Molecular Biosystems has announced that it received notice from the U.S. Patent Office (PTO) that the firm's petitions seeking reexamination of two patents held by rival ImaRx Pharmaceuticals have been granted. The PTO will subject all claims of the ImaRx patents to reconsideration as to whether any of those claims are patentable, according to San Diego-based MBI.

The PTO said that it will review certain prior-art references brought to the PTO's attention in MBI's reexamination petitions, according to MBI. The key prior-art references include several that ImaRx did not disclose to the PTO during prosecution of the Tucson, AZ-based company's patent applications, MBI said. The PTO orders state that specific references raise substantial new questions concerning the patentability of the ImaRx patent claims, according to MBI.