Medical and Dental Device Patenting Blog : Medical and Dental Patent Lawyer & Attorrney : John Rizvi : Gold & Rizvi Law Firm : Florida, Serving Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando, Tampa, Florida

The November 22 issue of TIME magazine contained an article any future patent holder would love. The 50 Best Inventions of the Year showcased everything from flying cars to mosquito killing lasers. Here are the best medical patents from the Time Top 50.

Medical Patent #5: Used Cars for Babies

Premature babies have a new ally...junkyards. The NeoNurture incubator utilized old car parts to make functioning incubators for newborns. Headlights for heat, a dashboard fan blows air, and it can even be powered by a motorcycle battery. Finally, something useful for a Yugo.

Medical Patent #4: Life

Putting shame to the billions of years it took life to emerge on planet Earth, J. Craig Venter has managed to create life in just 15 years. Using simple off-the-shelf chemicals, Venter managed to reconstruct the genome of a bacterium that divides and replicates just like any other bug. Gloom and doom science fiction writers, sharpen your pencils.

Medical Patent #3: Great News for Smokers

Mixing blood vessels, collagen, stem cells, nutrients and a little science, researchers have created the lifelike tissue that exchanges oxygen and carbon dioxide just like normal lung tissue. Starting with a skeletal rat-lung, the lab grown lungs are powerful to assume 95% of a normal lung's inhaling and exhaling functions. Smokers around the world are encouraged not to hold their breath waiting on human implants.

Medical Patent #2: Replacement for the Wheelchair?

The makers of eLegs exoskeleton have designed an exoskeleton that may help paraplegics to walk again. The exoskeleton is composed of robotic prosthetic legs that use artificial intelligence to mimic a natural human gait. The wearer controls the machine using two crutches. Could this be the first step in a real Iron Man suit?

 Medical Patent #1: Made to Order Organs

Imagine if you could print yourself a brand new heart as easily as you could a weekly status report. That's exactly what San Diego based companies Invetech and Organovo plan will happen with the 3-D Bioprinter. Based off of decades old dot-matrix printer technology, the printer has two printheads – one sprays out a gel that forms the shape of the desired organ...the other fills it in with living cells. Imagine a new liver custom made for you in a week. Alcoholics rejoice!

Do you have an idea that may be in next year's issue of The 50 Best Inventions of the year? You do? Then contact our office toll-free at 1-866-Idea-Attorneys.

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Inventors in the medical device field may want to pay attention to a new patent awarded to Apple.

Titled "Nitriding Stainless Steel for Consumer Electronic Products", it describes a cost-effective system that would place a layer of nitride atop a stainless steel exterior. This would add a durable scratch and impact resistant surface to stainless steel.

There are other coatings that add these benefits to stainless steel, but they also usually mask the natural surface color and texture of stainless steel. For example, titanium nitride coating is a metallic gold color.

Why this is Important for Inventors in the Medical Field

Because stainless steel is used everywhere in the medical industry, including...

• Scalpels
• Clamps
• Scissors
• Screws
• Replaceable joints
• Trays

And any other number of medical devices. Do you think any of these products could benefit from a more durable scratch and impact resistant surface?

 

Questions To Help You Come Up With The Next New Medical Device Patent

Obviously you can't claim a patent for adding nitride to stainless steel operating equipment (Apple now owns the rights to this application), but there are a few lessons you can learn from them.  As a medical device patent attorney focusing on medical patents and dental patents, I've come up with a couple questions you might want to ask yourself...

Medical Device Question #1: How could I improve an existing product?

Apple didn't invent anything brand new here. They just found new process that makes stainless steel more durable...which makes their products better. For a new inventor, this is one of the easiest ways to come up with new inventions.

Medical Device Question #2: What are the users used to?

Does your application or invention change the way the product looks so much that it won't be used? I highly doubt patients care if the knives cutting them open are silver or gold, but the doctors who use them have a built in way of identifying their tools.

If they are used to using silver tools, and your coating makes them pink...will they still use them? Even if they are better?

Asking yourself these two questions will ensure your invention qualifies for a patent...AND...that you have a marketable product to sell.

Full story here - New Apple Patent

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    Think medical patents couldn't derive from a state known largely for its cheese? The University of Wisconsin-Madison begs to differ, and the students who flock to their biomedical engineering program from all over the country agree. Taking an unusual experiential approach, UW-Madison sets itself apart by offering students the opportunity to solve real-life clinical issues through research and design.

    This leads to ongoing medical patent opportunities for its students, who can watch their accomplishments from conception to completion--and in the field resolving medical needs. In the full article at Newswise, biomedical engineering chair and department head Robert Radwin says their program is unparalleled. "Almost every engineering program has a senior design experience, but all our BME students work on projects throughout their curriculum. You can only do this in Wisconsin, and students come here because of this curriculum."

    Among recent students who have sought or received medical patents for their innovative medical designs are undergraduates Claire Flanagan and Ashley Huth and alumni Chris Westphal. Flanagan and Huth filed a provisional medical patent application for a syringe that can separately "store liquid and solid components, and mix and administer a solution." This is to solve a contemporary challenge in delivering "complex and multi-component therapeutics" according to UW-Madison professor W. John Kao. Westphal was part of a team that developed and manufactured a device to help researchers study hamstring injuries using MRIs.

    The list of collaborative and independent innovation is long and ongoing, as are the opportunities for students to commemorate their efforts with medical patents (and ensuing profits). "I think the opportunity of being able to get a [medical] patent before you get your undergraduate degree lingers in the minds of many students while they are designing and building their devices," says Westphal. Imagining crossing leaving the stage with a diploma and a medical patent in hand, and I believe Mr. Westphal is right on the money.

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    Medication accounts for a great majority of medical patents, though every medication has its side effects. There's no doubt medicine is saving lives and yet there are clear medical patent opportunities to minimize the risks associated with them. The main difficulty, as you in the medical community may be aware, is that medication is designed to handle a specific issue within the body. However, everything within the body is connected and the challenges in treating one area without impacting any other is significant.

    One such area where improvements are needed is in treating prostate cancer as a new study describes the difficulties patients have in selecting the treatment plan with the lowest side effects (AP via CNN Health). The study, published on March 19, 2008 in the New England Journal of Medicine, studied four prostrate cancer treatments: surgery, standard radiation, radioactive seeds (for patients in the early stages), and hormone therapy.

    The side effects of the various treatments were related to sexual and urinary complications. Hormone therapy in combination with radiation "had a big effect on men's vitality and sexuality." Similarly, radioactive pellets created sexual problems, as well as "discomfort in urinating." Surgery, too, impacted sexual performance and a small percentage had trouble with incontinence one to two years after the surgery. Bowel problems, such as rectal pain and a higher frequency of trips to the bathroom were associated to varying degrees with the treatment plans. And, this is, in fact, my point: while the side effects I've described varied depending on the therapy used, they were present with all of them.

    Looking ahead, I'm wondering where medical patent innovation may take us, where we may find remedies, in medicine and otherwise, that reduce or eliminate side effects. And, I specifically wonder whether taking a more holistic, systemic view in the treatment of any medical issue may lead to medical patent innovations and developments that will help us recover and thrive.

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