Ventana Files Patent Suit Against Vision

Tucson, AZ-based Ventana Medical Systems Inc., which makes tissue and slide preparation systems used in drug discovery, said it filed a patent infringement suit against a unit of Australia’s Vision Systems Ltd, the Associated Press reported.
   Ventana alleges that Vision Biosystems’ Bond X and Bond maX OCR products infringe on its patent for systems that schedule algorithms that allow for sequencing multiple tests.
   The action comes in the same week that Marlborough, MA-based Cytyc, a medical diagnostics company, made an offer to purchase Vision for $374 million.
   In the lawsuit Ventana seeks an injunction and unspecified damages, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
   The filing came a day after medical testing products maker Cytyc Corp. outbid Ventana for Vision Systems, offering $374 million in cash versus Ventana’s $346 million proposal. Ventana said Monday it would not increase its offer for Vision and planned to file a patent lawsuit against Vision in U.S. federal court.
   Shares of Ventana fell $1.09, or 2.6 percent, to close earlier at $40.91 on Monday on the Nasdaq. The stock has traded between $33.51 and $49.54 over the last 52 weeks.