BIOLASE REJECTS SONENDO'S "PATENTLY ABSURD" CLAIMS

FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif., Jan. 25, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- BIOLASE, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIOL), the world's leading dental laser company, today released the following statement in response to the attempt by Sonendo, Inc., through its wholly-owned subsidiary PIPStek LLC (Sonendo), to use patent litigation to try to save Sonendo's diminished position and reputation in the marketplace. 

BIOLASE is well known for its own industry-leading innovations and respects the valid intellectual property rights of others. Indeed, BIOLASE licenses its technology to its partner manufacturers. However, BIOLASE does not license patents that are invalid or do not cover its products.  BIOLASE intends to continue to increase its market share by offering its superior products and valuable intellectual property to clinicians and partners worldwide. 

BIOLASE views Sonendo's claims as meritless and intends to fight them vigorously. BIOLASE believes Sonendo's claims significantly overlap conventional technologies long used by endodontists in the field of dentistry. In fact, BIOLASE believes they do not represent innovations even remotely worthy of patent protection. BIOLASE was previously approached by PIPStek and its principals to develop laser fiber designs. BIOLASE had the opportunity to purchase PIPStek's patents, but it passed, considering them to be completely worthless. Desperate to gain market share despite its inferior product, Sonendo acquired PIPStek. Tellingly, having acquired PIPStek, Sonendo immediately shelved the commercialization of any products embodying the supposedly novel technology claimed by the patents. Now, Sonendo is attempting to extract value from its worthless acquisition.

John Beaver, President and Chief Executive Officer of BIOLASE, stated, "Sonendo, an upstart newcomer to our esteemed industry, has made a terrible mistake. Hiding behind a subsidiary, they have turned to the court system to recover their losses. We view their complaint as a frivolous attempt to stop BIOLASE's momentum and try to achieve what they've failed to do through legitimate competition with their cheaply made, inferior product."

"In addition to clearly poor manufacturing," noted Beaver, "their product is costly, with less laser power and far fewer features, and it bears an unpleasant design and ungainly footprint to boot. Perhaps worst of all, just three months ago, in November 2022, the FDA posted a notice regarding their product entitled 'CLASS 2 DEVICE RECALL SONENDO GENTLEWAVE SYSTEM,' and the status of Sonendo's FDA product recall remains open on the FDA's website as of today."

Beaver continued, "Due to a lack of basic competence and an absence of meaningful due diligence, Sonendo, led by its green and inexperienced President & CEO Bjarne Bergheim, acquired PIPStek without doing some simple homework. But these actions against us have been truly duplicitous and calculated. Stuck with a pile of nothing but 'buyer's remorse,' and with product sales literally cratering all around him, Bjarne hired the very law firm that aided us in our unfavorable evaluation of PIPStek, and then, with the apparent intention of destroying BIOLASE, sued us in the middle of our (now successful) equity raise, after directly stating to me 'I hope your financing works out for you.'"

"We look forward to our day in court and we are carefully exploring all options available to us, as our intellectual property portfolio is quite comprehensive," concluded Beaver.

About BIOLASE, Inc. 

BIOLASE is a medical device company that develops, manufactures, markets, and sells laser systems in dentistry and medicine. BIOLASE's products advance the practice of dentistry and medicine for patients and healthcare professionals. BIOLASE's proprietary laser products incorporate approximately 302 patented and 28 patent-pending technologies designed to provide biologically and clinically superior performance with less pain and faster recovery times. BIOLASE's innovative products provide cutting-edge technology at competitive prices to deliver superior results for dentists and patients. BIOLASE's principal products are revolutionary dental laser systems that perform a broad range of dental procedures, including cosmetic and complex surgical applications. BIOLASE has sold over 43,300 laser systems from 1998 through December 31, 2022 in over 80 countries around the world. Laser products under development address BIOLASE's core dental market and other adjacent medical and consumer applications.

For updates and information on Waterlase iPlus®, Waterlase Express™, and laser dentistry, find BIOLASE online at www.biolase.com, Facebook at www.facebook.com/biolase, Twitter at www.twitter.com/biolaseinc, Instagram at www.instagram.com/waterlase_laserdentistry, and LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/biolase.

BIOLASE®, Waterlase®, and Waterlase iPlus® are registered trademarks of BIOLASE, Inc.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements, as that term is defined in the Private Litigation Reform Act of 1995, that involve significant risks and uncertainties, including statements, regarding BIOLASE's preliminary fourth quarter and full-year 2022 revenue, beliefs relating to BIOLASE's ability to capitalize on the dental laser market opportunity, expected 2023 revenue growth, anticipated 2023 milestones and the expected effects, and BIOLASE's plans for 2023. Forward-looking statements can be identified through the use of words such as "may," "might," "will," "intend," "should," "could," "can," "would," "continue," "expect," "believe," "anticipate," "estimate," "predict," "outlook," "potential," "plan," "seek," and similar expressions and variations or the negatives of these terms or other comparable terminology. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which reflect BIOLASE's current expectations and speak only as of the date of this release. Among other things, there can be no assurance that BIOLASE's actual full-year 2022 financial and operating results will not differ, perhaps substantially, from the preliminary financial and operating results and expectations contained in this press release. In addition, BIOLASE has not completed its fourth quarter and full-year 2022 closing and review process, and the final results for the full-year 2022 may differ, perhaps substantially, from the statements made in this press release. During the course of preparing BIOLASE's financial statements and during the review process, management may identify items that would require adjustments that may be material to the amounts described in this press release. Actual results may also differ materially from BIOLASE's current expectations depending upon a number of other factors. These factors include, among others, the coronavirus (COVID-19) and the effects of the outbreak and actions taken in connection therewith, adverse changes in general economic and market conditions, competitive factors including but not limited to pricing pressures and new product introductions, uncertainty of customer acceptance of new product offerings and market changes, risks associated with managing the growth of the business, substantial doubt regarding BIOLASE's ability to continue as a going concern, and those other risks and uncertainties that are described in the "Risk Factors" section of BIOLASE's most recent annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2022 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as required by law, BIOLASE does not undertake any responsibility to revise or update any forward-looking statements.

For further information, please contact:
EVC Group LLC
Michael Polyviou / Todd Kehrli
(732) 933-2754
[email protected] / [email protected]

SOURCE BIOLASE, Inc.