EOFLOW Suspends Wearable Insulin Patch Sales
A U.S. court has approved a request to halt sales of the automatic insulin injection device EOPatch developed by EOFLOW. According to industry sources on Oct. 11, the District Court of Massachusetts accepted an injunction application on Oct. 6 related to a lawsuit over overseas intellectual property rights infringement and unfair competition brought by Insulet, an American medical device company. In response, EOFLOW’s board of directors decided to suspend the production and sale of EOPatch until the lawsuit verdict is reached.
The EOFLOW product that Insulet has raised issues with is an automatic insulin injector that adheres to the skin. Type 1 diabetic patients, whose pancreatic function is congenitally deficient, need to inject insulin when their blood sugar rises. However, it isn’t easy to accurately adjust the amount of insulin injected, as overdosing can lead to hypoglycemia, while underdosing can keep blood sugar too high.
EOPatch measures blood sugar levels through a patch attached to the skin and calculates the required amount of insulin using artificial intelligence (AI), injecting it automatically. Insulin is injected using an Electric Osmosis Pump (EOP) mounted on the patch. EOPatch received approval from the Food and Drug Safety Agency earlier this year and applied for product approval to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last December. Recognizing this technological prowess, EOFLOW is in the process of being acquired by U.S.-based Medtronic for approximately 971 billion won.
EOFLOW stated, “The injunction decision pertains to trade secrets, and we believe there has been no infringement of our trade secrets.” It further mentioned, “To minimize legal risks in future lawsuits, we decided to temporarily halt manufacturing and sales until there are no trade secret disputes.” Meanwhile, the KOSDAQ Market Headquarters has suspended trading of EOFLOW’s stocks. Trading will be halted from Oct. 11 until the final decision regarding the “Listing Qualification Review” is made.