Contacts: David Lown, General Manager
(212) 583-0250 ext. 2111 dlown@mcra.com

MUSCULOSKELETAL CLINICAL REGULATORY ADVISERS, LLC
LAUNCHES PATENT INTELLIGENCE SERVICES

Washington, DC - October 7th, 2008: Musculoskeletal Clinical Regulatory Advisers, LLC (MCRA), an independent medical technology consulting firm focusing on regulatory, clinical, intellectual property, and reimbursement strategy execution, is pleased to announce the launch of its new Patent Intelligence Services. The Patent Intelligence Services address the growing need for companies to have real-time and well formatted intellectual property information that aids all key constituents, from research and development to intellectual property counsel to management.

MCRA’s Intellectual Property experience in orthopedics and medical devices spans more than 20 years combined, including a team comprised of former examiners from the US Patent and Trademark Office and registered patent agents, with experience from law firms, orthopedic industry, and academic institutions. Unlike the standard industry process of one-off patent searching and analysis for clients, MCRA’s team focuses on consistent updating of key information allowing for both cost efficiencies and information accuracy. MCRA’s new services deliver patent landscape maps and matrices, patentability matrices, patent databases, and expert analysis reports.

All of these services can be customized based upon the client’s technology and objectives and can be updated monthly to obtain the most current and accurate intellectual property information available. MCRA’s new intellectual property services place considerable priority on the final formatting of their products, presenting both summary visual aids ideal for overviews and executive strategy discussions and searchable, detailed interfaces with links to source patents for in-depth analysis by technical personnel. As a result, all key constituents can effectively utilize IP information to monitor competitor activities, identify potential clearance obstacles, indicate attributes of similar inventions, and reveal promising IP development opportunities.

MCRA Vice President of Intellectual Property, Tram Nguyen, said: "We believe these new products and services are going to set us apart from the typical search firms that most companies are using today. Not only do we have first-in-class medical device expertise, we now have top quality vehicles for delivering this information. The range of information and level of detail associated with each individual product means that there is something to suit every patent need and every budget."

MCRA’s General Manager, David Lown, added: “I think many professionals in our industry have experienced overpaying for singular information requests with regards to intellectual property. Our goal with these services is simple: to create systems and processes of intellectual property information in a well-formatted manner so that any department within a client company can strategize and execute their vision. If we meet our goal, our clients will be able meet their intended vision when creating and protecting their proprietary intellectual property.”

For more information, please visit MCRA’s Intellectual Property Services website: http://mcra.com/services_ip.html

About MCRA, LLC
MCRA was founded in 2003 and provides “first-in-class” service to its clients through its superior knowledge base, global surgeon relationships and deeply experienced management team. The true value of MCRA is the integration of 5 business value creators – regulatory, reimbursement, clinical, intellectual property and quality assurance. MCRA places particular emphasis on working with companies at all stages of development, whether they are single-product companies or companies with several thousand technologies.