News in brief - May 16, 2005

Surgeon receives payment for patents - Stem cell research guidelines released - Court approves CIGNA settlement with nonphysician professionals

Surgeon receives payment for patents

Medtronic Inc. in late April announced that it reached an agreement to pay $1.35 billion to Los Angeles orthopedic surgeon Gary K. Michelson, MD. The settlement resolves patent infringement litigation that Dr. Michelson initiated against the company and shifts ownership of spinal surgery technology and techniques from Dr. Michelson and his company to Medtronic.

Medtronic, a medical technology company based in Minneapolis, will pay Dr. Michelson $800 million to acquire patents and $550 million to settle the legal dispute, in which a federal jury last year told the company to pay the physician $510 million.

Medtronic said it will acquire ownership of more than 100 U.S. patents pertaining to novel spinal technology and techniques. The deal also transfers ownership of some future inventions related to the diagnosis and treatment of the spine conceived or acquired by Dr. Michelson or his firm.

Stem cell research guidelines released

Revised donor consent rules, prohibition on paying donors and limits to mixing human and animal cells are among the recommendations included in "Guidelines for Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research," a 131-page report that a joint committee of the National Academies' National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine released April 26.

"A standard set of requirements for deriving, storing, distributing and using embryonic stem cell lines -- one to which the entire U.S. scientific community adheres -- is the best way for this research to move forward," committee co-chair Richard O. Hynes, PhD, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge said in a statement.

Compliance with the guidelines is voluntary, but the panel urged everyone involved in human embryonic stem cell research to abide by them.

The guides met a mixed reaction.

Sen. Sam Brownback (R, Kan.), an opponent of embryonic stem cell research, called the recommendations an attempt "to put a good face on an unethical line of research."

The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, however, described the guidelines as "far reaching" and said they provide "a road map for ethically exploring the full potential of embryonic stem cell research."

Court approves CIGNA settlement with nonphysician professionals

A federal judge in April approved a settlement between CIGNA HealthCare and a class of health care professionals other than physicians. The settlement ends litigation in which the practitioners challenged the insurer's payment practices.

The settlement filed in U.S. District Court in Miami calls for CIGNA to establish an $11.5 million fund to allow class members to be compensated for some claims dating back to 1990.

CIGNA reached a class-action settlement with physicians last year, paying doctors about $85 million.