Kurin, Inc. Files False Advertising Lawsuit Against ICU Medical and Vascular Integrity

Kurin, Inc. announced that it filed a lawsuit against ICU Medical, Inc. and Vascular Integrity, LLC for making false and misleading clinical performance claims regarding the Vascular Integrity Bypass Syringe. The lawsuit was filed on March 15, 2024, in the US District Court, Central District of California. The syringe is manufactured by Vascular Integrity and ICU Medical is the distributor of this product.

“Kurin is the market leader in the blood culture contamination device market and our success is no doubt observed by others wondering how they might take advantage of the interest we have generated,” said Bob Rogers, Inventor and CEO of Kurin. “In this case, misleading claims that the Bypass Syringe reduces blood culture contamination, CLABSIs, and hemolysis are not supported in the regulatory documents. These statements are not only misleading, hospitals believing these claims could actually cause patient harm.”

“We filed this suit because Defendants ignored our friendly notice of these unsupported claims. Given their inattention to this matter, litigation was our only avenue to address these misleading statements.”

Kurin’s revolutionary approach to the contaminated blood culture problem is an elegantly simple, intuitive design that requires no additional user steps. Kurin passively sidelines potential contaminants during blood culture collection. Kurin is a simply better and more sustainable approach over conventional mechanical diversion. Contaminated blood cultures are a significant problem, as roughly one-third of the positive results are wrong, exposing these patients to unnecessary antibiotics, extending hospital stays and impacting larger community health issues, such as antimicrobial resistance and life-threatening C. diff. infections. Kurin Lock and Kurin Jet give clinicians the tools they need to address these problems.

About Kurin, Inc.

Kurin Inc., a certified Minority Business Enterprise (MBE), is focused on the design, development, manufacture, marketing, and sale of products that help healthcare providers reduce contaminated blood cultures. San Diego-based Kurin has received FDA 510(k) market clearance. For more information, visit the website at www.kurin.com.

USPTO Examiner Affirms Rejection of Claims Asserted by Magnolia Medical, Inc. against Kurin, Inc.

Kurin, Inc., the inventor and manufacturer of the Kurin® blood culture collection sets, announced that the US Patent and Trademark Office has issued a Reexamination Advisory Action regarding the relevant claims of the ‘483 patent that Magnolia Medical asserted against the Kurin Lock product. The Patent Office found that Magnolia’s arguments regarding claims 1 and 24 do not overcome its prior final rejection of these claims, and noted that any finally rejected claims will be cancelled.

“We are pleased to see yet another affirmation that we are on the right side of this legal process,” said Bob Rogers, CEO of Kurin, Inc. “The Advisory Action is unambiguous and offers great detail on why the arguments presented by Magnolia fail to overcome the USPTO’s determination that these claims are not valid, providing great clarity on this legal matter.”

“Magnolia Medical continues to abuse the legal system and the patent continuation process in an attempt to use the Courts and USPTO to do what it cannot do in the marketplace. We will continue to vigorously defend our rights. Kurin is the market leader in this space due to the ease-of-use of the Kurin product line, and continues to grow at a fast pace with further innovations being developed.”

Kurin’s revolutionary approach to the contaminated blood culture problem is an elegantly simple, intuitive design that requires no additional user steps. Kurin passively sidelines potential contaminants during blood culture collection. Kurin is a simply better and more sustainable approach over conventional mechanical diversion. Contaminated blood cultures are a significant problem, as roughly one-third of the positive results are wrong, exposing these patients to unnecessary antibiotics, extending hospital stays and impacting larger community health issues, such as antimicrobial resistance and life-threatening C. diff. infections. Kurin Lock and Kurin Jet give clinicians the tools they need to address these problems.

About Kurin, Inc.

Kurin Inc., a certified Minority Business Enterprise (MBE), is focused on the design, development, manufacture, marketing, and sale of products that help healthcare providers reduce contaminated blood cultures. San Diego-based Kurin has received FDA 510(k) market clearance. For more information, visit the website at www.kurin.com.

USPTO Issues Final Rejection of Magnolia Medical’s ‘483 Patent at Issue in Litigation

Kurin, Inc., the inventor and manufacturer of the Kurin® blood culture collection sets, announced today that the US Patent and Trademark Office has issued a Final Rejection in its reexamination of claims 1 and 24 of U.S. Patent No. 10,039,483 (the ‘483 patent). Claims 1 and 24 of the ‘483 patent were asserted by Magnolia Medical against Kurin’s Lock product in a patent infringement case in Delaware Federal Court. The USPTO Examiner has rejected Magnolia’s arguments regarding patentability, and the pertinent claims of that patent now stand as rejected.

“We are pleased that the Examiner has rejected the asserted claims of the ‘483 patent,” said Bob Rogers, Inventor and CEO of Kurin, Inc. “Magnolia has tried to use this patent and subsequent litigation to create confusion in the marketplace and this action by the USPTO provides greater clarity to Kurin and other interested parties. As we have said from the onset, although this legal process is long, we are confident in our position, and will do whatever is necessary to continue to provide the market-leading Kurin family of products to our customers.”

Kurin’s revolutionary approach to the contaminated blood culture problem is an elegantly simple, intuitive design that requires no additional user steps. Kurin passively sidelines potential contaminants during blood culture collection. Kurin is a simply better and more sustainable approach over conventional mechanical diversion. Contaminated blood cultures are a significant problem, as roughly one-third of the positive results are wrong, exposing these patients to unnecessary antibiotics, extending hospital stays and impacting larger community health issues, such as antimicrobial resistance and life-threatening C. diff. infections. Kurin Lock and Kurin Jet give clinicians the tools they need to address these problems.

About Kurin, Inc.

Kurin Inc., a certified Minority Business Enterprise (MBE), is focused on the design, development, manufacture, marketing, and sale of products that help healthcare providers reduce contaminated blood cultures. San Diego-based Kurin has received FDA 510(k) market clearance. For more information, visit the website at www.kurin.com.

Kurin, Inc. Reports Record Revenue for Q3 2023

Kurin, Inc., the inventor and manufacturer of Kurin® blood culture collection sets announced record revenues for the third quarter of 2023. In spite of 2023’s economic challenges for hospitals and other adverse market conditions, revenue growth in Q3 was significantly higher than Q2 of this year and when compared to the same period last year.

“We are pleased with Kurin’s continuing success, as demonstrated by the impressive growth this past quarter,” said Bob Rogers, CEO of Kurin, Inc. “Although pioneering new technologies has its challenges, we are helped by delivering a combination of improved clinical outcomes without creating extra work, and our value proposition of saving hospitals significant money in the process.”

“We continue to build our organization to accommodate this growth and are preparing for the acceleration that is expected given the focus organizations like the CDC and CMS are giving blood culture contaminations,” said Mr. Rogers. “In addition to our ongoing hiring of quality professionals, we are examining expanded manufacturing options as we plan for future growth.”

Kurin’s revolutionary approach to the contaminated blood culture problem is based on elegantly simple, intuitive designs that require no additional user steps. Kurin Lock® and Kurin Jet both sideline potential contaminants during blood culture collection and provide a better and more sustainable approach than active, conventional mechanical diversion. Contaminated blood cultures are a significant problem, as roughly one-third of the positive results are wrong, exposing these patients to unnecessary antibiotics, extending hospital stays, and impacting larger community health issues, such as antimicrobial resistance and life-threatening C. diff. infections. Kurin Lock and Kurin Jet give clinicians the tools they need to address these problems.

About Kurin, Inc.

Kurin Inc., a certified Minority Business Enterprise (MBE), is focused on the design, development, manufacture, marketing, and sale of products that help healthcare providers reduce contaminated blood cultures. San Diego-based Kurin has received FDA 510(k) market clearance. For more information, visit the website at www.kurin.com.

Kurin, Inc. Named 2023 Diverse Supplier of the Year by Vizient

Kurin, Inc. has been named the 2023 Diverse Supplier of the Year by Vizient, Inc., the nation’s largest provider-driven healthcare performance improvement company. The recognition was celebrated Sept. 18-21 at the 2023 Vizient Connections Summit in Las Vegas.

The Diverse Supplier of the Year award recognizes a certified minority-, woman-, veteran-, LGBT-, or disabled-person-owned supplier who has performed at the highest level in demonstrating year-over-year growth within Vizient-contracted customer spend while maintaining responsiveness to customer needs. This year, Vizient recognized Kurin for excelling in philanthropy, sustainability, performance in ethics and integrity, participation in Vizient events, and adherence to reporting and payment requirements.

“We are pleased to receive this award from Vizient,” said Bob Rogers, Inventor and CEO of Kurin. “From the time we started this company, our goal has been to make a difference by improving clinical outcomes and helping hospitals financially, as well as being good citizens along the way. We work with many Vizient member hospitals in these shared goals and look forward to continuing to do so for many years.”

“We are pleased to recognize Kurin as this year’s Diverse Supplier of the Year. Kurin has delivered on our provider customers’ needs to optimize cost, quality, and market performance,” said Simrit Sandhu, executive vice president, clinical supply solutions, Vizient.

Kurin’s revolutionary approach to the contaminated blood culture problem is based on elegantly simple, intuitive designs that require no additional user steps. Kurin Lock® and Kurin Jet™ both sideline potential contaminants during blood culture collection and provide a better and more sustainable approach than active, conventional mechanical diversion. Contaminated blood cultures are a significant problem, as roughly one-third of the positive results are wrong, exposing these patients to unnecessary antibiotics, extending hospital stays, and impacting larger community health issues, such as antimicrobial resistance and life-threatening C. diff. infections. Kurin Lock and Kurin Jet give clinicians the tools they need to address these problems.

About Kurin, Inc.

Kurin Inc., a certified Minority Business Enterprise (MBE), is focused on the design, development, manufacture, marketing, and sale of products that help healthcare providers reduce contaminated blood cultures. San Diego-based Kurin has received FDA 510(k) market clearance. For more information, visit the website at www.kurin.com.

USPTO Rejects Patent Claims Asserted by Magnolia Medical, Inc. against Kurin, Inc.

Kurin, Inc., the inventor and manufacturer of the Kurin® blood culture collection sets, announced that the US Patent and Trademark Office has rejected the relevant claims of the ‘483 patent that Magnolia Medical asserted against Kurin. The Patent Office determined that multiple examples of prior art render claims 1 and 24 unpatentable.

“We are pleased, but not surprised, to see this action from the USPTO,” said Bob Rogers, CEO of Kurin, Inc. “We strongly believe that we do not infringe the ‘483 patent, but also believe the patent was preceded by other inventions that should render it invalid. This first office action suggests that the Patent Office confirms our belief.”

“This USPTO action follows the recent Court order on the ongoing litigation where the Court opined that Kurin was likely to prevail on its noninfringement motion on Claim 1 and possibly Claim 24 as well. We make no assumptions as to the conclusion of these parallel paths, but remain confident that we are on the correct side of this issue and look forward to a successful outcome through both the Court and the USPTO.”

Kurin’s revolutionary 510(k) cleared approaches to the contaminated blood culture problem are based on elegantly simple, intuitive designs that require no additional user steps. Kurin passively sidelines potential contaminants during blood culture collection. Contaminated blood cultures are a significant problem, as roughly one-third of the positive results are wrong, exposing these patients to unnecessary antibiotics, extending hospital stays and impacting larger community health issues, such as antimicrobial resistance and life-threatening C. diff. infections.

About Kurin, Inc.

Kurin Inc., a certified Minority Business Enterprise (MBE), is focused on the design, development, manufacture, marketing, and sale of products that help healthcare providers reduce contaminated blood cultures. San Diego-based Kurin has received FDA 510(k) market clearance. For more information, visit the website at www.kurin.com.

Delaware Federal Court Issues a Stay Order in Patent Dispute between Magnolia Medical and Kurin, Inc.

Kurin, Inc., the inventor and manufacturer of the Kurin® blood culture collection sets, provided an update on the ongoing patent infringement case brought against Kurin by Magnolia Medical. It has been more than a year since the jury trial concluded and the Court has stayed Kurin’s motion for indefiniteness, pending an upcoming motion for judgment of noninfringement.  In a lengthy accompanying opinion, the Court stated that “it seems likely that Kurin will prevail on its renewed motion for [judgment] of noninfringement of at least claim 1 and perhaps claim 24 as well.”

“Although this case is far from over, we remain optimistic,” said Bob Rogers, CEO of Kurin, Inc. “We strongly believe we do not infringe the ‘483 patent and expect to file the noninfringement motion in the coming weeks. The trial process is a lengthy one and, as we have said all along, we will fight this meritless lawsuit as long as needed.”

“This lawsuit is a distraction and, sadly, we hear from customers that they get a very one-sided perspective from Magnolia Medical that is at odds with the facts of the case. Our focus will remain on helping hospitals improve their clinical outcomes with the market-leading Kurin Lock device, as well as the new Kurin Jet, which is not a subject of any litigation.”

Kurin’s revolutionary 510(k) cleared approaches to the contaminated blood culture problem are based on elegantly simple, intuitive designs that require no additional user steps. Kurin passively sidelines potential contaminants during blood culture collection. Contaminated blood cultures are a significant problem, as roughly one-third of the positive results are wrong, exposing these patients to unnecessary antibiotics, extending hospital stays and impacting larger community health issues, such as antimicrobial resistance and life-threatening C. diff. infections.

About Kurin, Inc.

Kurin Inc., a certified Minority Business Enterprise (MBE), is focused on the design, development, manufacture, marketing, and sale of products that help healthcare providers reduce contaminated blood cultures. San Diego-based Kurin has received FDA 510(k) market clearance. For more information, visit the website at www.kurin.com.

Kurin Launches Kurin Jet, Redefining the Blood Culture Contamination Device Market

Kurin, Inc., the inventor and manufacturer of the Kurin® blood culture collection sets, announced today the full-scale launch of Kurin Jet, which has joined the Kurin Lock family. The original member of the Kurin Lock family, now named the Kurin Flash, is the market-leading product in this space. The Kurin Jet provides a significant technological advancement over Kurin Flash.

“We had earlier announced a limited commercial release and have been thrilled with responses from customers using Jet,” said Bob Rogers, CEO of Kurin, Inc. “Feedback from those using Jet has been very positive with clinicians amazed at how fast Jet works, and they appreciate the greater control it allows. Automated manufacturing has started, and we are now able to provide this next generation product more widely. Kurin Jet can be used with direct to media, syringe draw, direct venipuncture and PIV applications.”

“Kurin Flash became the market-leading product because of its small size, small amount of blood required and ease of use. Compliance is the key to improving clinical outcomes and the increased speed and control make Kurin Jet even easier to use, helping hospitals address this important clinical problem.

Kurin’s revolutionary approach to the contaminated blood culture problem is based on elegantly simple, intuitive designs that require no additional user steps. Like the Kurin Flash, Kurin Jet passively sidelines potential contaminants during blood culture collection. Kurin Flash and Kurin Jet both provide a better and more sustainable approach than active, conventional mechanical diversion. Contaminated blood cultures are a significant problem, as roughly one-third of the positive results are wrong, exposing these patients to unnecessary antibiotics, extending hospital stays and impacting larger community health issues, such as antimicrobial resistance and life-threatening C. diff. infections. Kurin Flash and Kurin Jet give clinicians the tools they need to address these problems.

About Kurin, Inc.

Kurin Inc., a certified Minority Business Enterprise (MBE), is focused on the design, development, manufacture, marketing, and sale of products that help healthcare providers reduce contaminated blood cultures. San Diego-based Kurin has received FDA 510(k) market clearance. For more information, visit the website at www.kurin.com.

Kurin Receives 510k from the FDA with Indication to Reduce Blood Culture Contaminations

Kurin, Inc., the inventor and manufacturer of the Kurin® blood culture collection sets, announced today that the Food and Drug Administration has issued a 510(k) clearance for the Kurin product line. Kurin now has four 510(k) clearances from the FDA. The recent clearance says, in part, that Kurin reduces the frequency of blood culture contaminations*.

“We are pleased that the FDA has provided clearance to say that Kurin reduces blood culture contaminations” said Bob Rogers, CEO of Kurin, Inc. “Kurin is the market leader because our device is simple to use and requires a minimal amount of blood. Our submission to the FDA included data demonstrating dramatic decreases in contaminations while using Kurin. The new 510(k) highlights Kurin’s growing list of accomplishments and underscores why Kurin continues to be the #1 company addressing blood culture contaminations. This is yet further proof that the myth that blood must be isolated to achieve contamination reduction is simply wrong.”

Kurin’s revolutionary approach to the contaminated blood culture problem is an elegantly simple, intuitive design that requires no additional user steps. Kurin passively sidelines potential contaminants during blood culture collection. Kurin is a simply better and more sustainable approach over conventional mechanical diversion. Contaminated blood cultures are a significant problem, as roughly one-third of the positive results are wrong, exposing these patients to unnecessary antibiotics, extending hospital stays and impacting larger community health issues, such as antimicrobial resistance and life-threatening C. diff. infections.

About Kurin, Inc.

Kurin Inc., a certified Minority Business Enterprise (MBE), is focused on the design, development, manufacture, marketing, and sale of products that help healthcare providers reduce contaminated blood cultures. San Diego-based Kurin has received FDA 510(k) market clearance. For more information, visit the website at www.kurin.com.

*Kurin Lock allows the specimen of blood from the patient to be sidelined prior to the collection of the test sample to reduce the frequency of blood culture contamination when contaminates are present in the initial blood sample compared to blood cultures drawn using standard practice without the Kurin Lock.

Kurin Commends the CDC for Their Recent Publication on Blood Culture Contamination

Kurin, Inc., the inventor and manufacturer of the Kurin® blood culture collection sets, commends the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for their just-released publication on blood culture contamination. The paper stresses the importance of reducing these preventable contaminations and highlights how devices, like Kurin, have been shown to be effective in this regard. The CDC specifically states: “There are devices that are commercially available that have shown promise in further reducing blood culture contamination rates. These devices initially divert a small amount of potentially contaminated blood and then collect blood for the blood culture.”

“We are pleased to see the CDC use their resources to address this serious clinical challenge” said Bob Rogers, CEO of Kurin, Inc. “The CDC cited the small amount of blood these devices use to prevent the initial blood from entering the blood culture bottle and thus reduce contaminations. The CDC also shared that the average contamination costs approximately $4500, showing there is a financial impact as well as negative health consequences from these contaminations. Kurin is the market leader because of its simplicity and the small amount of blood used, and we look forward to working in concert with the CDC on this important issue.”

Kurin’s revolutionary approach to the contaminated blood culture problem is an elegantly simple, intuitive design that requires no additional user steps. Kurin passively sidelines potential contaminants during blood culture collection. Kurin is a simply better and more sustainable approach over conventional mechanical diversion. Contaminated blood cultures are a significant problem, as roughly one-third of the positive results are wrong, exposing these patients to unnecessary antibiotics, extending hospital stays and impacting larger community health issues, such as antimicrobial resistance and life-threatening C. diff. infections.

The new document can be found at: https://www.cdc.gov/antibiotic-use/core-elements/pdfs/fs-bloodculture-508.pdf

About Kurin, Inc.

Kurin Inc., a certified Minority Business Enterprise (MBE), is focused on the design, development, manufacture, marketing, and sale of products that help healthcare providers reduce contaminated blood cultures. San Diego-based Kurin has received FDA 510(k) market clearance. For more information, visit the website at www.kurin.com.