BTG Licenses Two-Part Hip Cup Patents to Wright Medical Technology, Inc.
London, UK, 9 September 2002: BTG (LSE: BGC), the global technology commercialisation company, today announced it has successfully licensed the two-part hip cup patents to Wright Medical Technology, Inc., a world wide designer, manufacturer and distributor of orthopaedic implants and instruments, for a license fee and future royalty payments.
The two-part hip cup technology is a prosthetic hip joint replacement that allows more accurate positioning which helps prevent hip joint dislocation. The US market for hip prostheses is estimated to be worth in excess of $900 million and this invention is a key component in approximately 90% of the products in this market.
BTG acquired the patents to this invention in 1982, from the inventor John Church, a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon from Wycombe General hospital in the UK. Since then, BTG has been licensing this portfolio of patents together with patents owned by Depuy Orthopaedics Inc (a Johnson & Johnson Company). BTG has exclusive commercialisation rights for both of these patent portfolios and has signed licence agreements with most of the of leading orthopaedic companies, including Stryker Howmedica Osteonics, Smith & Nephew and Biomet. To date, BTG has earned gross revenues of over US$20 million from these agreements.
Commenting on the licensing agreement with Wright Medical Technology, Inc., Anthony V Lando, BTG’s Chief Operating Officer said: “This latest licence for the two-part hip cups demonstrates BTG’s ability to exploit its intellectual property assets and generate revenues from our portfolio. We will continue to seek further licences for this innovative technology with other players in the medical devices world.”
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About BTG
BTG finds, develops and commercialises emerging technologies in the life and physical sciences. These innovations are protected by a strong portfolio of intellectual property that BTG develops and enhances. BTG then captures the value in these technologies through licensing and venturing activities. From the origins of its business in 1949, BTG has commercialised major innovations such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), recombinant factor IX blood-clotting protein, Campath® (alemtuzumab) and Multilevel Cell (MLC) memory. BTG is quoted on the London Stock Exchange under the symbol “BGC” and operates from offices in London and Philadelphia, with representation in Tokyo. BTG operates through wholly owned subsidiaries, BTG International Ltd. and BTG International Inc. in the UK and USA, respectively. Further information on BTG can be found at www.btgplc.com.