Diagnostics & Imaging Week articles from April 2007

Diagnostics & Imaging Week archives from April 2007

Leavitt outlines new HHS vision: gene-based brand of medicine.("Realizing the Promise of Pharmacogenomics: Opportunities and Challenges.")
April 5, 2007... Michael Leavitt, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services last week outlined new department initiatives for achieving gene-based medical care, combined with health information technology (HIT). He "branded" this combination as...

Privacy issue a critical element for PGx 'personalized' care.("Realizing the Promise of Pharmacogenomics: Opportunities and Challenges.")
April 5, 2007... On the road to what Michael Leavitt, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services referred to last week as "Personalized Health Care," in a speech before the Personalized Medicine Coalition (PMC; Washington), he said, "much work...

Smiths Medical launches lab for studies at high altitudes.(International report)
April 5, 2007... Smiths Medical, part of the Smiths Group (London), has opened the Smiths Medical High Altitude Laboratory at Namche Bazaar, Nepal. The lab, located at an altitude of 11,154 feet, is one of four main laboratories for Caudwell Xtreme Everest,...

ACS urges MRI breast screens for women in high-risk category.
April 5, 2007... New guidelines from the American Cancer Society (ACS; Atlanta) recommend that women considered at high-risk for breast cancer should undergo screening with MRI scans. This group is defined as women considered to have about a 20% to 25% or...

Roche to buy CuraGen's 454; Cytyc closes $452m Adeza deal.(Deals roundup)
April 5, 2007... Roche (Basel, Switzerland) has signed a merger agreement to acquire 454 Life Sciences (Branford, Connecticut), a subsidiary of CuraGen (New Haven, Connecticut), for up to $154.9 million in cash. Of this amount, Roche will pay $140 million...

SenoRx prices IPO share at $8, seeking to raise up to $50.6m.(Financings roundup)
April 5, 2007... SenoRx (Aliso Viejo, California), a manufacturer of biopsy systems and tissue markers used in the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer, has priced its 5.5 million share initial public offering at $8 a share, significantly below its stated...

Beckman Coulter (Fullerton, California) reported additional details regarding its financing strategy for the proposed $1.55 billion acquisition of Biosite (San Diego), a biomedical company commercializing proteomics discoveries for the advancement of medical diagnosis (Diagnostics & Imaging Week, March 29, 2007).(Financings roundup)
April 5, 2007... Beckman Coulter (Fullerton, California) reported additional details regarding its financing strategy for the proposed $1.55 billion acquisition of Biosite (San Diego), a biomedical company commercializing proteomics discoveries for the...

PreMD.(Financings roundup)
April 5, 2007... PreMD is a developer of rapid, noninvasive tests for the early detection of life-threatening diseases. Its cardiovascular products are branded as the PREVU(x) Skin Cholesterol Test. The company's cancer tests include ColorectAlert, LungAlert...

Elekta.(Financings roundup)
April 5, 2007... Elekta (Stockholm, Sweden) signed a five-year extendable $175 million multi-currency revolving credit facility. The coordinating mandated lead arranger was SEB Merchant Banking and the mandated lead arrangers were Banc of America...

BodyMedia's SenseWear offers data for lifestyle 'adjustments'.(American College of Cardiology Scientific Sessions)
April 5, 2007... NEW ORLEANS -- If there is anything that serves to reveal and highlight the not-so-pleasant truth buried within the euphemism "healthcare," it is a medical conference, and the annual scientific meeting of the American College of Cardiology...

Cytyc inks multi-year pact with Quest for ThinPrep Pap Test.(Agreements)
April 5, 2007... Cytyc (Marlborough, Massachusetts), a provider of surgical and diagnostic products targeting women's health and cancer diagnostics, reported a new multi-year agreement with Quest Diagnostics (Lyndhurst, New Jersey) for the ThinPrep Pap Test....

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Institut Pasteur (IP; Paris) have entered an agreement to extend their collaboration in health research and the management of inventions arising from this research.(Agreements)
April 5, 2007... The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Institut Pasteur (IP; Paris) have entered an agreement to extend their collaboration in health research and the management of inventions arising from this research. The institutions said they have...

Volcano (Rancho Cordova, California) and ev3 (Plymouth, Minnesota) reported a joint marketing and distribution agreement.(Agreements)
April 5, 2007... Volcano (Rancho Cordova, California) and ev3 (Plymouth, Minnesota) reported a joint marketing and distribution agreement. Volcano will sell ev3's SpiderFX Embolic Protection Device in conjunction with its Intravascular Ultrasound (IVUS) and...

Invitrogen (Carlsbad, California) has partnered with Emiliem (Emeryville, California) to screen the company's multi-kinase inhibitors using Invitrogen's SelectScreen platform.(Agreements)(Brief article)
April 5, 2007... Invitrogen (Carlsbad, California) has partnered with Emiliem (Emeryville, California) to screen the company's multi-kinase inhibitors using Invitrogen's SelectScreen platform. Invitrogen will perform biochemical kinase screening, cellular...

Scivanta gets final $2.55m payout to use for cardiac monitor R&D.(Court report)
April 5, 2007... Scivanta Medical (Spring Lake, New Jersey) has received the final payment of $2.55 million from Syntho Pharmaceuticals (Farmingdale, New York) and its principal owner, Muhammed Malik (collectively, the Syntho Group), related to a settlement...

EP MedSystems (West Berlin, New Jersey) reported that it has executed a settlement with the U.S. Department of the Treasury related to its shipment of products to restricted countries in 2004 and earlier.(Court report)
April 5, 2007... EP MedSystems (West Berlin, New Jersey) reported that it has executed a settlement with the U.S. Department of the Treasury related to its shipment of products to restricted countries in 2004 and earlier. The company, not admitting or...

SNM raises more than $3m for 'Bench to Bedside' campaign.(Grants/contracts)
April 5, 2007... SNM (Reston, Virginia), which bills itself as the "world's largest society for medical professionals in the molecular imaging and nuclear medicine profession," said it has received nearly $3.3 million in donations for its "Bench to Bedside"...

Cepheid releases Smart HBV assay.(International report)
April 5, 2007... Cepheid (Sunnyvale, California), a broad-based molecular diagnostics company, reported the European release of the Smart HBV (Hepatitis B Virus) Assay for clinical diagnostic use on the SmartCycler System. The SmartCycler System is a major...

1st patients Synergy-treated in Tokyo.(International report)
April 5, 2007... After becoming Japan's first medical center to acquire Elekta's (Stockholm, Sweden) Synergy treatment system for intensity modulated and image guided radiation therapy (IMRT and IGRT), the University of Tokyo Hospital recently treated its first...

Guardian Technologies International (Herndon, Virginia), a provider of security and healthcare solutions based on "Intelligent Imaging Informatics" (3i), said that it has signed a contract with Logos Imaging (Richmond, Indiana) for 10 licenses of Guardian's threat assessment software technology for portable bomb detection scanners, brand-named PinPoint nSight.(Grants/contracts)(Brief article)
April 5, 2007... In other grants/contracts: Guardian Technologies International (Herndon, Virginia), a provider of security and healthcare solutions based on "Intelligent Imaging Informatics" (3i), said that it has signed a contract with Logos Imaging...

Beckman Coulter (Fullerton, California) reported that its subsidiary, Louisiana Acquisition Sub, has begun a tender offer for all outstanding shares of Biosite (San Diego), a biomedical company developing proteomics discoveries, of $85 a share in cash.(Deals roundup)
April 5, 2007... Beckman Coulter (Fullerton, California) reported that its subsidiary, Louisiana Acquisition Sub, has begun a tender offer for all outstanding shares of Biosite (San Diego), a biomedical company developing proteomics discoveries, of $85 a share...

PerkinElmer (Waltham, Massachusetts) said it has acquired Improvision (Coventry, UK) for cash, the amount undisclosed.(Deals roundup)
April 5, 2007... PerkinElmer (Waltham, Massachusetts) said it has acquired Improvision (Coventry, UK) for cash, the amount undisclosed. Improvision is a provider of cellular imaging software and integrated hardware solutions used in life sciences research....

Aspect Medical Systems (Newton, Massachusetts) reported initiation of two studies being conducted with the Cleveland Clinic (Cleveland, Ohio) to investigate the impact of anesthetic management techniques on patient outcomes.(Product Briefs)
April 5, 2007... Aspect Medical Systems (Newton, Massachusetts) reported initiation of two studies being conducted with the Cleveland Clinic (Cleveland, Ohio) to investigate the impact of anesthetic management techniques on patient outcomes. The first study...

EPIX Pharmaceuticals.(Product Briefs)
April 5, 2007... EPIX Pharmaceuticals (Lexington, Massachusetts) reported an update regarding the status of its formal appeal to the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) at the FDA, asking the CDER director to approve the company's novel blood-pool...

Averion International.(People in Places)
April 5, 2007... Glenn Deegan has been named VP and general counsel for Averion International (Boston). Most recently, Deegan was VP and general counsel at MacroChem. Averion is a clinical research organization providing clinical research, regulatory compliance...

MRI pioneer Paul Lauterbur, 77, succumbs to kidney disease.
April 5, 2007... Paul C. Lauterbur, a physicist who received a 2003 Nobel Prize for his work in the development of MRI, died, as the result of kidney disease, on Tuesday at his home in Urbana, Illinois. He was 77. "Paul's influence is felt around the world...

Study: mammography via CAD less accurate, possibly harmful.(Impact on sector to be watched closely)
April 12, 2007... Executives at Hologic (Bedford, Massachusetts) and iCAD (Nashua, New Hampshire) had plenty to say last week in response to a study on computer-aided detection (CAD), that study having the potential for doing considerable damage to a technology...

Biosite says it will consider IMI's richer offer over rival Beckman.
April 12, 2007... Though the stakes aren't quire so high, an auction-type battle similar to last year's between Johnson & Johnson and Boston Scientific for the acquisition of Guidant is shaping up in the diagnostic sector. The board of Biosite (San Diego)...

Agilent set to acquire diagnostic developer Stratagene for $245M.
April 12, 2007... Electronics testing equipment maker Agilent Technologies (Santa Clara, California) said it agreed to acquire specialized life science research and diagnostic products maker Stratagene (La Jolla, California) for about $245 million Each...

Roche grows immunochemistry via $600 million buy of BioVeris.
April 12, 2007... Roche (Basel, Switzerland) last week reported that it has agreed to acquire BioVeris (Gaithersburg, Maryland) for $21.50 per share in cash, or a total of about $600 million. The purchase will allow Roche to expand its immunochemistry...

Study cites ColonCAD results; Sectra unveils next generation.(International report)
April 12, 2007... A study presented during last month's European Congress of Radiology (ECR) conference in Vienna, Austria, cited the effectiveness of the ColonCAD from Medicsight (London) for the detection of colorectal cancer in symptomatic patients. ...

Diamics lands $22M contract in China.(International report)
April 12, 2007... Diamics (Novato, California), a developer of cancer screening and diagnostics products, reported signing a three-year, $22 million-plus contract for the use and distribution of its system for cervical cancer screening in China. It said...

3M Diagnostics reports first test launch in the EU market.
April 12, 2007... 3M Diagnostics (St. Paul, Minnesota), a new business unit of 3M, unveiled in early March, introduced its first product in Europe, at the 17th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases in Munich, Germany. This first...

VivoMetrics, Empirical report new beat-by-beat monitoring.(Agreements roundup)(Empirical Technologies)(Brief article)
April 12, 2007... VivoMetrics (Ventura, California) and Empirical Technologies (Research Triangle Park, North Carolina) reported a "collaborative breakthrough in physiological monitoring" which they said will enable "the addition of continuous non-invasive...

Siemens Medical Solutions Diagnostics (Tarrytown, New York) has been selected by group purchasing organization Premier (San Diego) to provide a line of immunoassay, chemistry, automation and urinalysis solutions to its customers.(Agreements roundup)
April 12, 2007... Siemens Medical Solutions Diagnostics (Tarrytown, New York) has been selected by group purchasing organization Premier (San Diego) to provide a line of immunoassay, chemistry, automation and urinalysis solutions to its customers. The...

SkyeTek (Westminister, Colorado) reported that Iris Diagnostics, a division of IRIS International (Chatsworth, California), has adopted the M2 SkyeModule with ReaderWare Security as its single source solution for authenticating reagents used in its flagship product, the iQ200 Automated Urinalysis System.(Agreements roundup)
April 12, 2007... SkyeTek (Westminister, Colorado) reported that Iris Diagnostics, a division of IRIS International (Chatsworth, California), has adopted the M2 SkyeModule with ReaderWare Security as its single source solution for authenticating reagents used in...

Enpath Medical (Plymouth, Minnesota) said it has extended its supply agreement for introducers with Medtronic (Minneapolis) for another five years.(Agreements roundup)
April 12, 2007... Enpath Medical (Plymouth, Minnesota) said it has extended its supply agreement for introducers with Medtronic (Minneapolis) for another five years. The agreement relates to standard lead introducer procedural kits, a key component of Enpath's...

Welch Allyn (Skaneateles Falls, New York) said it has entered into a technology integration agreement with Oridion, a device company that makes products for ventilation patient monitoring.(Agreements roundup)
April 12, 2007... Welch Allyn (Skaneateles Falls, New York) said it has entered into a technology integration agreement with Oridion, a device company that makes products for ventilation patient monitoring. The Welch Allyn family of electronic vital signs...

Amphion reports funding for Motif; Lifeline Biotech in share exchange.(Financings roundup)(Amphion Innovations, Motif Biosciences)
April 12, 2007... Amphion Innovations (New York) reported that one of its partner companies, Motif Biosciences, a population genetics company in the Arabian Gulf Region, has raised $1 million in a C-round financing. Amphion owns 42% of Motif and says it...

MDS.(Financings roundup)(MDS Health Group Ltd.)(Brief article)
April 12, 2007... MDS (Toronto) reported preliminary results of its substantial issuer bid, which expired at 5 p.m., EST, April 5. MDS has accepted for purchase and cancellation 22,831,050 common shares at C$21.90 a share, totaling C$500 million in accordance...

Siemens promises $20 million as boost to China healthcare.(Grants/contracts)(Brief article)
April 12, 2007... Siemens (Munich, Germany) reported launch of a project to achieve what it called "sustainable improvements" in healthcare in rural areas of China and that it will invest $10 million in the project over the next five years. It said that the...

FASgen (Baltimore) reported receiving an SBIR grant from the National Cancer Institute for refinement of its serum FAS (fatty acid synthase) ELISA cancer diagnostic test, FAS-Detect ELISA.(Grants)
April 12, 2007... FASgen (Baltimore) reported receiving an SBIR grant from the National Cancer Institute for refinement of its serum FAS (fatty acid synthase) ELISA cancer diagnostic test, FAS-Detect ELISA. The company describes the test as an "excellent signal"...

Pacific Biometrics (PBI; Seattle) has won a contract for specialty laboratory testing services for the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute on Aging (NIA) in support of a clinical study known as the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA), being conducted by the NIA.(Contracts)(Clinical report)
April 12, 2007... Pacific Biometrics (PBI; Seattle) has won a contract for specialty laboratory testing services for the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute on Aging (NIA) in support of a clinical study known as the Baltimore Longitudinal...

Nanogen.(Contracts)
April 12, 2007... Nanogen (San Diego), developer of advanced diagnostic products, reported that it has obtained a U.S. Government Service Administration schedule contract applying to the company's NanoChip 400 microarray instrument and reagents. The...

Power3 Medical, NeoGenomics form j-v special-purpose CRO.(New ventures)(joint venture contract research organization)
April 12, 2007... Power3 Medical Products (Houston), a proteomics company, reported that it has entered into a collaboration agreement with NeoGenomics (Fort Myers, Florida), a genetic testing specialist, to form a joint venture contract research organization...

CMS promises $1B in savings via DME bidding, will hire 1,600.(Washington roundup)
April 12, 2007... The competitive bidding final rule published this past Monday by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is designed to drive down Medicare costs for durable medical equipment (DME), off-the-shelf orthotic items and supplies, and as the...

Alteon (Montvale, New Jersey) reported an expanded licensing agreement with BioRap Technologies, the commercialization arm of the Rappaport Family Institute for Research, Technion University (Haifa, Israel) for all diagnostic devices or products for predictive purposes in vascular or cardiac diseases, including diagnostic assays for the measurement of the haptoglobin protein (Hp).
April 12, 2007... Alteon (Montvale, New Jersey) reported an expanded licensing agreement with BioRap Technologies, the commercialization arm of the Rappaport Family Institute for Research, Technion University (Haifa, Israel) for all diagnostic devices or...

NightHawk Radiology in $53M acquisition of The Radlinx Group.
April 12, 2007... NightHawk Radiology Holdings (Coeur D'Alene, Idaho), the provider of radiology solutions to medical groups and hospitals throughout the U. S., reported acquiring the Radlinx Group (Irving, Texas), billing Radlinx as the third largest provider...

FDA posts post-approval e-page list.(Washington roundup)
April 12, 2007... The tracking and verification of post-approval (PA) studies for medical devices has been a bone of contention between FDA and various stakeholders, with some of the agency's critics charging that FDA is not doing enough to enforce compliance...

Exagen Diagnostics.(Product Briefs)(Brief article)
April 12, 2007... * Exagen Diagnostics (Albuquerque, New Mexico) said that it filed for FDA review of the first of six products currently in its product pipeline. This product, eXagenBC, is a DNA-based test that identifies risk of recurrence in breast cancer...

Gen-Probe.(Product Briefs)
April 12, 2007... Gen-Probe (San Diego) said that a research test for the specific prostate cancer gene PCA3 in urine predicted the results of repeat biopsies more accurately than traditional prostate specific antigen (PSA) testing, as reported in the March...

Karl Storz Endoscopy-America (Culver City, California) reported the installation of fully functional integrated operating rooms combined with intraoperative magnetic resonance imaging (iMRI) capabilities at Cook Children's Medical Center (Fort Worth, Texas) and Swedish Medical Center (Seattle).(Product Briefs)
April 12, 2007... KARL STORZ Endoscopy-America (Culver City, California) reported the installation of fully functional integrated operating rooms combined with intraoperative magnetic resonance imaging (iMRI) capabilities at Cook Children's Medical Center (Fort...

Masimo.(Product Briefs)(Brief article)
April 12, 2007... Masimo (Irvine, California) reported that three new independent studies concluded that Masimo acoustic respiratory monitoring technology (ARM) is "at least as accurate as capnometry" and "significantly more reliable" for monitoring respiration...

Caliper Life Sciences.(People in Places)
April 12, 2007... John DelliSanti has been named executive VP and chief commercial officer for Caliper Life Sciences (Hopkinton, Massachusetts). Previously, DelliSanti led the Americas commercial operations at Invitrogen. Caliper Life Sciences provides research...

NightHawk Radiology Holdings.(People in Places)
April 12, 2007... Glenn Cole has been named CFO of NightHawk Radiology Holdings (Coeur D'Alene, Idaho), effective May 1. Cole has served as an executive of the healthcare segment of The Thomson Corporation since 1996, most recently as CFO. NightHawk Radiology...

SpectraScience.(People in Places)
April 12, 2007... David Mazepink has been appointed director of sales and marketing for SpectraScience (San Diego). Mazepink formerly worked for Endoscopy Centers of America and its affiliates. SpectraScience makes minimally invasive devices used to distinguish...

Trellis Bioscience.(People in Places)
April 12, 2007... Bruce Keyt has been named chief technology officer and VP or research for Trellis Bioscience (South San Francisco). Most recently, Keyt was VP of R&D at Abmaxis prior to its acquisition by Merck. Trellis' proprietary CellSpot platform employs...

Criticare in $2.2 million Iraq sale.(International report)
April 12, 2007... Criticare Systems (CSI; Milwaukee) reported the receipt of a $2.2 million international order for its next-generation portable multi-parameter vital signs monitor, winning a tender bid initiated by the ministry of health for the Republic of...

Quest Diagnostics on growth path with $2 billion buy of AmeriPath.(Company overview)
April 19, 2007... Touting an opportunity for growth as a driving factor, Quest Diagnostics (Lyndhurst, New Jersey) yesterday said it has agreed to buy AmeriPath (Palm Beach Gardens, Florida) for about $2 billion, including roughly $770 million in debt at...

TriStar reports gene discovery implicated in breast cancer.(AACR annual meeting)
April 19, 2007... TriStar Technology Group (Rockville, Maryland) said that the results of a genetic study by a German academic partner could have "major implications" in the treatment of breast cancer, with potential for a companion drug/diagnostic under the...

Biobank is Euro pacesetter with genomic data/health record link.(World Health Care Congress)
April 19, 2007... BARCELONA -- April 16 is opening day for the UK's Biobank, a project of the National Health Service, in the hunt for 500,000 middle-aged volunteers to contribute blood and urine specimens for what will become the world's largest database...

Researchers develop phone-sized, saliva-based POC diagnostic.(point of care)
April 19, 2007... Clinicians--or you and I--one day may be walking about with an iPod in the ear, and an IMPOD in the hand. That's the--rather somewhat fantasized--hope of a team of researchers at Sandia National Laboratories (Livermore, California) which...

Qiagen North America to acquire eGene for $34m in cash, shares.(Deals roundup)
April 19, 2007... Qiagen (Venlo, the Netherlands), a provider of sample and assay technologies for research in life sciences, applied testing and molecular diagnostics, reported that its subsidiary Qiagen North American Holdings (Valencia, California) has signed...

Beckman Coulter.(Deals roundup)
April 19, 2007... Beckman Coulter (BC; Fullerton, California), a developer of biomedical testing products, reported that the mandatory antitrust waiting period associated with its proposed $1.55 billion acquisition of Biosite (San Diego) has expired and that the...

FDA releases new MDUFMA document with no big changes.(Medical Device User Fee and Modernization Act of 2002)
April 19, 2007... WASHINGTON -- The newly crafted agreement between industry and FDA regarding medical device user fees is on paper and ready for presentation to Capitol Hill. And a review of the document and a conference call with officials at the Advanced...

NAS presenter says nanoprobes will soon detect brain waves.
April 19, 2007... WASHINGTON -- The second day of the conference on nanotechnology hosted by the National Academy of Sciences (Washington) included discussions of a number of healthcare applications of nanomaterials, including cancer and heart disease. ...

Epocal closes on $31m 'C' round; Accuri completes $5m 'B' round.(Financings roundup)
April 19, 2007... Epocal (Ottawa), a private developer of point-of-care blood diagnostic products, reported the closing of a $31 million Series C equity financing. The Series C round was led by Highland Capital Management (Dallas) and also included...

Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings.(Financings news)
April 19, 2007... Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (LabCorp; Burlington, North Carolina) reported that its zero coupon subordinated liquid yield option notes (LYONS) due 2021 and zero coupon convertible subordinated notes due 2021 may be converted. ...

Fonar.(Financings news)(Brief article)
April 19, 2007... Fonar (Melville, New York), an MRI maker, said it has affected a reverse stock split at a ratio of 1:25 of its outstanding common stock and all other classes of its outstanding stock. As a result of the hearing held before the NASDAQ...

Synergetics USA.(Financings news)
April 19, 2007... Synergetics USA (O'Fallon, Missouri) reported that Jerry Malis, its director and chief scientific officer, and Donna Scheller, the wife of Gregg Scheller, its director and CEO, have adopted prearranged stock trading plans allowing them to sell...

Matritech.(Financings news)(Brief article)
April 19, 2007... Matritech (Newton, Massachusetts) reported that it agreed with the holders of more than 90% of the outstanding principal value of its Series A 15% secured convertible promissory notes to defer these holders' receipt of principal and interest...

Abbott says diagnostic pact with Premier potentially worth $300m.(Agreements roundup)
April 19, 2007... Abbott Laboratories (Abbott Park, Illinois) reported signing a group purchasing agreement with Premier Purchasing Partners (San Diego) for a broad array of the company's diagnostic products. The three-year contract covers all of Abbott's...

Transgenomic (Omaha, Nebraska) said it will provide Spectrumedix instrument service and consumables support in the U.S. and other areas as well as continue the offering to European customers of Spectrumedix (State College, Pennsylvania).(Agreements roundup)
April 19, 2007... Transgenomic (Omaha, Nebraska) said it will provide Spectrumedix instrument service and consumables support in the U.S. and other areas as well as continue the offering to European customers of Spectrumedix (State College, Pennsylvania). ...

Pentadyne Power (Chatsworth, California), a maker of clean energy storage systems using composite flywheel technology, reported entering into a memorandum of understanding agreement (MOU) with Toshiba International (TIC; Houston) for Toshiba to sell Pentadyne's flywheel in medical and broadcasting UPS applications.(Agreements roundup)
April 19, 2007... Pentadyne Power (Chatsworth, California), a maker of clean energy storage systems using composite flywheel technology, reported entering into a memorandum of understanding agreement (MOU) with Toshiba International (TIC; Houston) for Toshiba to...

DexCom closer to glucose reimbursement.(Briefly Noted)
April 19, 2007... DexCom (San Diego) said it is one step closer to gaining reimbursement for its continuous glucose monitoring devices. The company said the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid issued a positive preliminary decision for DexCom to develop Healthcare...

Illumina to consolidate operations.(Briefly Noted)(Brief article)
April 19, 2007... Illumina (San Diego) said that it intends to consolidate its operations in Wallingford, Connecticut, into its facilities in San Diego. The Wallingford site was originally established in connection with the acquisition of CyVera and has...

Accuray (Sunnyvale, California), focused on the field of radiosurgery, reported signing a co-marketing and distribution agreement with Siemens Medical Solutions USA (Malvern, Pennsylvania), enabling Accuray to integrate its CyberKnife Robotic Radiosurgery System and RoboCouch Patient Positioning System with a Siemens SOMATOM computed tomography (CT) scanner with a sliding gantry configuration.(Agreements roundup)
April 19, 2007... Accuray (Sunnyvale, California), focused on the field of radiosurgery, reported signing a co-marketing and distribution agreement with Siemens Medical Solutions USA (Malvern, Pennsylvania), enabling Accuray to integrate its CyberKnife Robotic...

Invitrogen (Carlsbad, California), a provider of life science technologies for disease research and drug discovery, reported completing the sale of its BioReliance (Rockville, Maryland) business to Avista Capital Partners for $210 million.
April 19, 2007... Invitrogen (Carlsbad, California), a provider of life science technologies for disease research and drug discovery, reported completing the sale of its BioReliance (Rockville, Maryland) business to Avista Capital Partners for $210 million. ...

pSivida (Perth, Australia) reported that its subsidiary, AION Diagnostics (Subiaco, Australia) will be sold to GEM Global Yield Fund (Boston), a portfolio management firm.
April 19, 2007... pSivida (Perth, Australia) reported that its subsidiary, AION Diagnostics (Subiaco, Australia) will be sold to GEM Global Yield Fund (Boston), a portfolio management firm. GEM will pay pSivida $3 million in two equal installments of $1.5...

Immunicon.(AACR annual meeting)
April 19, 2007... Immunicon (Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania) will exhibit its Immunicon Pharma ServicesSM, the new CellCapture CTC Mouse/Rat Kit and the new EasyCount System at its exhibit booth. The CellCapture CTC Mouse/Rat Kit is designed to enable...

Introgen Therapeutics.(ACCR annual meeting)
April 19, 2007... Introgen Therapeutics (Austin, Texas) reported updated Advexin biomarker data over the weekend at AACR. The company is developing molecular therapeutics, immunotherapies, vaccines and nano-particle tumor suppressor therapies to treat a wide...

Abbott Diabetes Care.(Product Briefs)
April 19, 2007... Abbott Diabetes Care (Alameda, California) reported the launch of its FreeStyle Lite blood glucose monitoring system after receiving FDA 510(k) clearance. The system features an automatic alibration feature that eliminates the manual coding...

Biological Signal Processing (BSP) has received FDA approval for the new version of its system HyperQ Stress System, a PC-based ECG system providing diagnosis of ischemic heart diseases.(Product Briefs)
April 19, 2007... Biological Signal Processing (BSP) has received FDA approval for the new version of its system HyperQ Stress System, a PC-based ECG system providing diagnosis of ischemic heart diseases. The improvements include an updated user interface, and...

Clarity Medical Systems.(Product Briefs)
April 19, 2007... Clarity Medical Systems (Pleasanton, California) has introduced the RetCam Shuttle, a transportable version of the company's RetCam II for imaging infants' and children's eyes. The shuttle is one-fourth the size and weight of the full-size...