ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 24 -- United States Patent no. 12,558,486, issued on Feb. 24, was assigned to Inari Medical Inc. (Irvine, Calif.).

"Automatic locking and unlocking vacuum syringes, and associated systems and methods" was invented by Christopher Andrew Zikry (Northridge, Calif.), Benjamin Edward Merritt (San Clemente, Calif.), Parker Ozenne (Aliso Viejo, Calif.), Steven McConnell (Anaheim, Calif.) and Mikayla Ann Barkley (Irvine, Calif.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Disclosed herein are automatic-locking and automatic-unlocking syringes, and associated systems and methods. In some embodiments, a syringe can include a barrel, a plunger assembly slidably positioned within the barrel, and ...