Dive Brief:
- A federal jury on Tuesday awarded Insulet $452 million in its patent skirmish with EOFlow over insulin patch pumps.
- The jury awarded Insulet $170 million in compensatory damages from EOFlow and an additional $282 million in exemplary damages for willful and malicious misappropriation. A judge has not yet entered a judgment on the decision.
- Insulet filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts in 2023, claiming EOFlow copied patented components of its Omnipod insulin pumps.
Dive Insight:
Insulet has dominated the U.S. market for insulin patch pumps: small, wearable devices intended to replace daily insulin injections. However, competitors Tandem Diabetes Care and Medtronic plan to bring their own versions to market.
Insulet sued EOFlow and three former executives who joined the South Korea-based patch-pump maker, claiming the company “launched a plan to brazenly copy Insulet’s Omnipod System.”
In October 2023, the Massachusetts district court issued a preliminary injunction against EOFlow. Following that decision, Medtronic called off plans to buy EOFlow for about $738 million.
A federal appeals court later overturned the preliminary injunction, and EOFlow resumed selling its devices in Europe. The company recently defended against a separate injunction filed by Insulet in Europe’s Unified Patent Court, according to Korea Biomedical Review, an online English newspaper based in Seoul, South Korea.
The Massachusetts jury found this week that EOFlow and CEO Jesse Kim, as well as two of three former Insulet employees who were named as defendants in the lawsuit, misappropriated Insulet’s trade secrets.
Insulet CEO Jim Hollingshead said the company is “extremely pleased with the jury’s verdict.” EOFlow did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
