Johnson & Johnson's Shockwave Sues Chinese Medical Device Company at the UPC

On June 8, 2026, Shockwave Medical, a subsidiary of global healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson, filed a lawsuit against a Chinese medical device company, Shenzhen Shun Medical Co., Ltd. (name partially redacted), and its European partners at the Düsseldorf Local Division of the Unified Patent Court (UPC). The action alleges infringement of three core European patents owned by Shockwave.

Shenzhen Shun Medical is a Chinese company specializing in the field of vascular intervention. Its flagship product is an intravascular lithotripsy (IVL) technology used to treat vascular calcification. The company’s business covers more than 150 countries worldwide, positioning it as an innovative Chinese medical device company with global reach. The allegedly infringing product is marketed under the name ShockFast™ IVL Shockwave Balloon.

According to publicly available information as of June 2026, this product is still undergoing clinical trials within China. It has not yet obtained either a registration certificate from China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) or CE marking from the European Union. This means the product has not been lawfully marketed or sold in any jurisdiction. Nevertheless, Shockwave chose to file the lawsuit at this stage, leveraging the “imminent infringement” rule under the European patent system. Under this rule, even if a product has not yet been commercially sold, as long as it has entered a substantial stage of preparation and its future market entry would highly likely fall within the scope of a patent, the patent holder may seek a preliminary injunction from the court to prevent subsequent commercialization.

Shockwave Medical is widely recognized as the pioneer of intravascular lithotripsy technology. Johnson & Johnson completed its acquisition of Shockwave in April 2024 for USD 13.1 billion. The three European patents asserted in this litigation all originate from Shockwave’s core technology developed prior to the acquisition.

This case represents another landmark dispute involving Chinese medical device companies. As Chinese enterprises achieve technological breakthroughs, foreign companies are increasingly leveraging core patents to launch “preemptive strikes” against potential competition. Chinese Intellectual Property Lawyer Net will continue to follow the progress of this case.