US 8758418

I'll search for information on this specific patent number in the USPTO database and any CAFC litigation records.

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I have gathered sufficient authoritative information from the provided patent text and corroborating search results (PubChem, FreePatentsOnline, DrugPatentWatch, USPTO.report). Here is the requested summary.

US Patent 8,758,418 — Summary

Note on the search: I could not locate any CAFC (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit) docket entries for this patent in 2026 or any other year via the searches performed. Google Patents does flag the patent family as having litigation (linked to a Darts-ip family record), but I found no specific CAFC appeal docket tied to this exact patent number. Treat the absence of CAFC records as unconfirmed rather than definitive.

Bibliographic Data

The patent is a continuation in a long chain: 09/070,772 (→ US 6,223,071) → 09/774,084 (→ US 6,709,446) → 10/755,318 (→ US 7,190,109) → 11/716,014 (→ US 7,723,910) → 12/621,845 → 12/969,999 → 13/484,691 (this patent). A further continuation, US 14/282,636, issued as US 9,723,991.

Abstract

An apparatus and method for photodynamic therapy or photodynamic diagnosis using an illuminator comprising a plurality of light sources generally conforming to a contoured surface and irradiating the contoured surface with substantially uniform intensity visible light. The light sources may comprise generally U-shaped fluorescent tubes that are driven by electronic ballasts. The spacing of the U-shaped tubes is varied to increase the output at the edges of the illuminator to make the output more uniform. Also, different portions of the tubes are cooled at different amounts, to improve uniformity. A light sensor monitors output from the U-shaped tubes to provide a signal for adjusting the output from the tubes.

Independent Claims — Plain-Language Overview

The patent's granted claims are all method-of-treatment claims (not apparatus claims, despite the title). There are four independent claims; the remaining 40 claims depend from them.

Claim 1 — Photodynamic treatment with a defined power range: Administer 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) to at least part of a patient, then irradiate the patient with substantially uniform visible light from multiple light sources at a power of 9.3 to 10.7 mW/cm².

Claim 12 — Dose-capped treatment: Administer ALA, irradiate with substantially uniform visible light from multiple light sources, and stop irradiation once a dose of 10 J/cm² has been delivered.

Claim 23 — Time-capped treatment: Administer ALA, irradiate with substantially uniform visible light from multiple light sources, and stop irradiation after 1,000 seconds of light delivery (which corresponds to the 10 J/cm² dose at 10 mW/cm² per the specification).

Claim 34 — Blue-light dose-capped treatment: Administer ALA, irradiate with substantially uniform blue light from multiple light sources, and stop when a dose of 10 J/cm² has been delivered.

Dependent Claim Themes

The dependent claims narrow the independent claims by:

• Irradiating with fluorescent tubes;
• Using light substantially entirely within the blue region;
• Topically applying ALA (vs. injecting) and admixing ALA with a vehicle just prior to use;
• Treating specific indications: actinic keratosis, acne, photo damaged skin, cancer, and pre-cancerous conditions.

Notes / Uncertainty

• CAFC 2026 dockets: No CAFC docket records were found for patent 8,758,418 in my searches. If you need confirmation of litigation status, the Darts-ip family record linked from Google Patents (family ID 5472388) would be the next place to check, but I could not verify its contents.
• Assignee: Google Patents lists the current assignee as "Dusa Pharmaceuticals Inc Canada" with original assignee "Dusa Pharmaceuticals Inc"; DrugPatentWatch lists "Dusa Pharmaceuticals Inc." This reflects the same corporate entity family, but I did not verify the precise current legal entity.
• Expiration: The "anticipated expiration" of 2018-05-01 reflects the 20-years-from-priority-date calculation; the patent is marked "Expired – Fee Related," meaning it lapsed due to unpaid maintenance fees rather than reaching a natural statutory term endpoint.