By Christopher P. Singer —

Angiotech® announced in a March 15, 2007 press release that the European Patent Office’s Technical Board of Appeal denied Conor
Medsystems Inc.’s and Sahajanand Medical Technologies Pvt. Ltd.’s request to
intervene and appeal a prior ruling by the Opposition Division of the EPO
regarding Angiotech’s "Hunter" patent (EP 0706376 B1; see corresponding
International Publication WO 95/003036.  The patent relates generally to stent
technology and claims priority back to 1993.  Angiotech and Conor Medsystems, Inc. have been waging battles worldwide
over the technology covered by this patent (and its related foreign
counterparts), with each party having success in various countries.

In its statement, Angiotech indicated that it will
continue to vigorously defend its intellectual property on a worldwide basis.