Last November, Medtronic had filed charges of infringement of seven patents against Axonics. In response, in March, Axonics Modulation Technologies filed seven inter partes review (IPR) petitions contesting the validity of seven Medtronic patents. However, PTAB's latest verdict has rejected without hearing the challenge to Medtronic's U.S. Patent No. 9,463,324 ('324 patent). Last week, the PTAB also decided to institute full IPR proceedings related to the six additional patents that are at issue. As stated in Medtronic's press release, "the PTAB has also decided to institute full IPR proceedings related to the six additional patents at issue. In those IPR proceedings, the PTAB will hear testimony and argument from both sides." An Axonics' spokesperson however stated that in September, "PTAB found that based on the IPRs, there is a "reasonable likelihood" that the claims in 6 of the 7 Medtronic patents are invalid; they found one patent to be valid ('324)."