Diagnostics & Imaging Week articles from January 2004

Diagnostics & Imaging Week archives from January 2004

Gen-Probe gets FDA approval for its first Tigris application.
January 8, 2004... Gen-Probe (San Diego, California) has received FDA marketing clearance for the first application of its Tigris DTS System, which it said is the first fully automated, high-throughput instrument for the molecular diagnostics marketplace. ...

ChromaVision gets expanded product clearance from FDA.(ChromaVision Medical Systems Inc.)(Food and Drug Administration)
January 8, 2004... ChromaVision Medical Systems (San Juan Capistrano, California), a maker of diagnostic imaging technologies, last week reported receiving an expanded regulatory clearance for its Automated Cellular Imaging System (ACIS) digital microscope...

Trinity's Uni-Gold Recombigen rapid HIV test is FDA-cleared.(Trinity Biotech PLC)
January 8, 2004... Healthcare workers who received needlestick injuries in the workplace now have a quick and easy test to determine if the patients whom the needle was used for to draw blood are infected with HIV. Trinity Biotech (Dublin, Ireland) has,...

Biomedical imaging gets closer look for clinical use from NIH.(National Institutes of Health )
January 8, 2004... BETHESDA, Maryland -- Biomedical imaging could play a much larger role in translating research results into patient care if a new effort from the government proves successful. A recent workshop, sponsored by the National Institutes of...

Hycor, Stratagene extending deadline for proposed merger.(Deals roundup)(Hycor Biomedical Inc. and Stratagene Cloning Systems Inc.)
January 8, 2004... A Diagnostics & Imaging Week Staff Report Hycor Biomedical (Garden Grove, California) reported that it has signed an agreement with Stratagene (formerly Stratagene Holding Corp.) to extend the deadline for closing their proposed merger...

LabOne (Lenexa, Kansas) has acquired the assets associated with the core laboratory operations of the Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati (Cincinnati, Ohio) for $38.5 million in cash, subject to post-closing adjustments.(Deals roundup)
January 8, 2004... LabOne (Lenexa, Kansas) has acquired the assets associated with the core laboratory operations of the Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati (Cincinnati, Ohio) for $38.5 million in cash, subject to post-closing adjustments. The core laboratory...

Cepheid in agreement with bioMerieux on DNA products.(Agreements)(Cepheid Inc.)(bioMerieux S.A.)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... A Diagnostics & Imaging Week Staff Report Cepheid (Sunnnyvale, California) reported that it has entered into a strategic commercial relationship with bioMerieux (Marcy-I'Etoile, France) for bioMerieux to develop DNA testing products...

Esoterix (Austin, Texas), a laboratory services company, entered an agreement to provide specialized laboratory testing services for Catholic Healthcare West (Oakland, California).(Agreements)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... Esoterix (Austin, Texas), a laboratory services company, entered an agreement to provide specialized laboratory testing services for Catholic Healthcare West (Oakland, California), the largest not-for-profit health care provider in California...

Innovative Biosensors (Gaithersburg, Maryland), a privately held developer of rapid diagnostic technologies, said that the company has entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases.(Agreements)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... Innovative Biosensors (Gaithersburg, Maryland), a privately held developer of rapid diagnostic technologies, said that the company has entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute...

Orchid BioSciences.(Agreements)(Orchid Biosciences Inc. contracted by the Los Angeles Police Department)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... Orchid BioSciences (Princeton, New Jersey) reported that its Orchid Cellmark unit, a leader in private forensic DNA testing, has been awarded an exclusive contract by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) to conduct forensic DNA analysis for...

Pro-Dex (Santa Ana, California) reported that one of it subsidiaries, Micro Motors, has signed a follow-on development agreement.(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... Pro-Dex (Santa Ana, California) reported that one of it subsidiaries, Micro Motors, has signed a follow-on development agreement with a leading manufacturer of imaging fiber optics used in flexible endoscopes. The third in a series of...

Cholestech settles with Roche via $7m payment plus royalties.(Court report)(Cholestech Corp.)(Roche Diagnostics GmbH)
January 8, 2004... A Diagnostic & Imaging Week Staff Report Cholestech (Hayward, California) reported reaching a settlement with Roche Diagnostics (Indianapolis, Indiana) and Roche Diagnostics GmbH (Basel, Switzerland) in connection with a patent infringement...

eResearch Technology.(Agreements)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... eResearchTechnology (eRT: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), a provider of centralized electrocardiographic (ECG) collection and interpretation services, said it has received agreements for about $1.7 million in cardiac safety monitoring and services...

Newborn hearing screening program now in 54 UK sites.(Report from Europe)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... A Diagnostics & Imaging Week Staff Report The National Health Service's (NHS) Newborn Hearing Screening Program, which began in 2001, is growing, Health Minister Stephen Ladyman said in an NHS press release issued late last week. ...

Given Imaging.(People in Place)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... Manfred Gehrtz joined Given Imaging (Yokneam, Israel) as corporate vice president and general manager, Europe. Gehrtz most recently served as managing director for endoscopy and medical systems, Europe, at Olympus Europa GmbH. Given Imaging...

In compliance with IVD, says AMDL.(Briefly Noted)(AMDL Inc. complies with European directives)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... AMDL (Tustin, California), developer and marketer of tests for the early detection of cancer and other serious diseases, reported last week that it is in compliance with the European IVD directive necessary to sell in Europe. "This compliance...

Matritech begins trading on AMEX.(Briefly Noted )(Matritech Inc.)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... Matritech (Newton, Massachusetts) reported that its common stock was approved for listing on the American Stock Exchange (AMEX), Trading began Tuesday Matritech selected LaBrance & Co. as the firm responsible for trading the company's common...

Dade Behring to redeem notes.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... Dade Behring (Deerfield, Illinois) reported that it has elected to redeem $9.6 million in principal of its 11.9% senior subordinated notes, due 2010. The redemption price of 111.91%, plus accrued and unpaid interest on the principal amount...

Biosite (San Diego, California) said that it has received clearance from the FDA to market the Triage BNP Test for Beckman Coulter Immunoassay Systems, a diagnostic test that measures B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP).(Product Briefs)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... Biosite (San Diego, California) said that it has received clearance from the FDA to market the Triage BNP Test for Beckman Coulter Immunoassay Systems, a diagnostic test that measures B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP). The test, recently...

Gen-Probe.(Product Briefs)(Gen-Probe Inc.)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... Gen-Probe (San Diego, California) reported that it has received FDA approval for the Aptima Vaginal Swab Specimen Collection Kit, the first kit that enables patients to self-collect vaginal swab specimens to be tested for Chlamydia trachomatis...

Masimo (Irvine, California) reported the launch of SPO2.COM, a new division that manufactures pulse oximetry sensors for conventional Nellcor (Pleasanton, California) sensor-compatible pulse oximeters.(Product Briefs)(Masimo Corp.)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... Masimo (Irvine, California) reported the launch of SPO2.COM, a new division that manufactures pulse oximetry sensors for conventional Nellcor (Pleasanton, California) sensor-compatible pulse oximeters. Masimo said SPO2.COM sensors are offered...

Medical Services International.(Product Briefs)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... Medical Services International (Edmonton, Alberta) has entered the final phase of testing required to submit its application for approval of the VScan HIV1 & 2 rapid test kit. The company said it anticipates completing the final phase of...

Mirada Solutions (Oxford, UK), a subsidiary of CTI Molecular Imaging (Knoxville, Tennessee), reported the successful validation of compatibility between Mirada's RTist application and the Eclipse radiation therapy treatment planning system from Varian Medical Systems (Palo Alto, California).(Product Briefs)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... Mirada Solutions (Oxford, UK), a subsidiary of CTI Molecular Imaging (Knoxville, Tennessee), reported the successful validation of compatibility between Mirada's RTist application and the Eclipse radiation therapy treatment planning system from...

Somanetics.(Product Briefs)(near-infrared spectroscopy patent)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2004... Somanetics (Troy, Michigan) reported that the Australian Patent Office has awarded AU patent No. 760195. The patent covers the application of noninvasive, near-infrared spectroscopy to measure continuously and substantially concurrently a blood...

Diagnostic firms mining growth opportunities in esoteric testing.(JPMorgan Healthcare Conference)
January 15, 2004... SAN FRANCISCO, California-Esoteric testing. Specialty testing Genomic testing. Regardless of the name they attach to these not-quite-synonymous areas of clinical diagnostics, the two largest U.S. suppliers of lab testing services wan:...

Abbott laboratories to purchase TheraSense in $1.2B stock buy.(Deals roundup)(TheraSense Inc.)
January 15, 2004... A Diagnostics & Imaging Week Staff Report Abbott Laboratories (Abbott Park, Illinois) and TheraSense (Alameda, California) jointly reported that Abbott has agreed to acquire all of the outstanding stock of TheraSense for $27 a share in...

Diagnostics, other sectors register M&A contributions.(2003 in review)(mergers and acquisitions )
January 15, 2004... While the cardiovascular and orthopedic sectors attracted much of the attention in the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) arena for 2003 (Medical Device Daily, Jan, 9. 2004), other areas also contributed significantly to the total value for the...

Quantum Dot reports improved method of lymph node biopsy.(2003 in review)
January 15, 2004... Quantum Dot (QDC Hayward, California) said Harvard Medical School (Boston Massachusetts) researchers have developed an improved method for performing sentinel lymph node biopsy using the company's quantum dot technology. The method uses...

Glucon raises $13M for work on its blood glucose monitor.(Report from Israel)
January 15, 2004... ZICHRON YA'AKOV, Israel--Glucon (Petach Tikva, Israel), a start-up company developing non-invasive glucose monitoring devices for diabetics, raised $13 million during the first stage of its second round of financing. Israel's Giza Venture...

Burrill closes $211 million fund; Orchid Bio puts $30M on shelf.(Financing roundup)(Burrill & Co.)(Brief Article)
January 15, 2004... A Diagnostics & Imaging Week Staff Report Burrill & Co. (San Francisco, California) on Monday reported the year-end closing of its Burrill Life Sciences Capital Fund, totaling $211 million. Burrill's new partners include key...

Orchid BioSciences.(Financing roundup)(Brief Article)
January 15, 2004... Orchid BioSciences (Princeton. New jersey) reported Filing a shelf registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission. enabling the company to offer and self up to $30 million of its common stock. The company said it has no...

Radiologix.(Financing roundup )(Radiologix Inc.)(Brief Article)
January 15, 2004... Radiologix (Dallas, Texas), a provider of diagnostic imaging services, reported amending and restating its $35 million credit facility with GE Healthcare Financial Services. The amended facility enables Radiologix to borrow up to 85% of the...

CompuMed.(Financing roundup)(Brief Article)
January 15, 2004... CompuMed (Los Angeles, California), a medical informatics firm serving the healthcare community with diagnostic software solutions, reported receiving a $5 million equity line from Dutchess Private Equities. The funds will be used to support...

AMDL.(Financing roundup)(AMDL Inc.)(Brief Article)
January 15, 2004... AMDL (Tustin, California) said it closed a combined Regulation D/Regulation 5 private offering of shares and warrants generating gross proceeds of $2,125,840, exclusive of placement agent fees of about $270,000. The offering consisted of...

Bio-Imaging Technologies.(Financing roundup)(Brief Article)
January 15, 2004... Bio-Imaging Technologies (Newtown, Pennsylvania) reported that the Securities and Exchange Commission declared effective its registration statement relating to the resale by the holders of shares of Bio-Imaging common stock. Bio-lmaging will...

Philips Electronics in 7-year deal with Baptist Health South Florida.(Agreements roundup)(Brief Article)
January 15, 2004... A Diagnostics & Imaging Week Staff Report Royal Philips Electronics (Andover, Massachusetts) entered a seven-year agreement to provide Baptist Health South Florida with radiology and cardiology picture archiving and communication systems...

Affymetrix (Santa, Clara, California) and Caliper Technologies (Hopkinton, Massachusetts), now doing business as Caliper Life Sciences, entered a supply agreement to develop automated target preparation instruments for the GeneChip Probe Array system, the new High Throughput Array (HTA) system and future GeneChip platforms.(Agreements roundup)(Brief Article)
January 15, 2004... Affymetrix (Santa, Clara, California) and Caliper Technologies (Hopkinton, Massachusetts), now doing business as Caliper Life Sciences, entered a supply agreement to develop automated target preparation instruments for the GeneChip Probe Array...

Dade Behring (Deerfield, Illinois) and Aventis Behring (Marberg, Germany) reported signing a license agreement which provides Dade Behring with worldwide in vitro diagnostic rights for the inventions of Aventis Behring that relate to the factor VII activating protease (FSAP) and mutant forms of FSAP.(Agreements roundup)(Brief Article)
January 15, 2004... Dade Behring (Deerfield, Illinois) and Aventis Behring (Marberg, Germany) reported signing a license agreement which provides Dade Behring with worldwide in vitro diagnostic rights for the inventions of Aventis Behring that relate to the factor...

Digene (Gaithersburg, Maryland) reported that by the spring of this year, its DNAwithPap Test will be offered to all women 30 and older by Kaiser permanente's (Oakland, California) Northern California Region, to better identify who is at risk of developing cervical cancer.(Agreements roundup)(Brief Article)
January 15, 2004... Digene (Gaithersburg, Maryland) reported that by the spring of this year, its DNAwithPap Test will be offered to all women 30 and older by Kaiser permanente's (Oakland, California) Northern California Region, to better identify who is at risk...

Third Wave Technologies (Madison, Wisconsin) said that it has extended for one year its multiyear partnership with BML (Tokyo), Japan's second largest clinical reference laboratory in japan, to commercialize molecular diagnostic tests for infectious disease, genetic testing and pharmacogenomics.(Agreements roundup)(Brief Article)
January 15, 2004... Third Wave Technologies (Madison, Wisconsin) said that it has extended for one year its multiyear partnership with BML (Tokyo), Japan's second largest clinical reference laboratory in japan, to commercialize molecular diagnostic tests for...

Micro (Chicago) said it has signed a study services agreement drug maker GlaxoSmithKline (GSK; London) in which Miicro will conduct imaging studies for GSK using position emission tomography (PET).(Agreements roundup)(Brief Article)
January 15, 2004... Micro (Chicago) said it has signed a study services agreement with drug maker GlaxoSmithKline (GSK; London) in which Miicro will conduct imaging studies for GSK using positron emission tomography (PET). PET imaging studies provide insight into...

eResearch in $15m agreement with big pharma for safety.(Grants/contracts)
January 15, 2004... A Diagnostics & Imaging Week Staff Report eResearchTechnology (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), a provider of centralized electrocardiographic (ECG)collection and interpretation services, has entered into an agreement with a total value of $15...

Abbott Laboratories (Abbott Park, Illinois) reported entering a worldwide distribution agreement with Atria Genetics (South San Francisco) doing business as Forensic Analytical/Molecular Genetics, for a line of tests for defining human leukocyte antigens (HLA) used for identifying potential donors in the matching process for bone marrow transplantation.(Grants/contracts)(Brief Article)
January 15, 2004... Abbott Laboratories (Abbott Park, Illinois) reported entering a worldwide distribution agreement with Atria Genetics (South San Francisco) doing business as Forensic Analytical/Molecular Genetics, for a line of tests for defining human...

Argon Medical Devices (Athens, Texas) said it has chosen MemsTech (Singapore) as a partner to provide the transducer device that is the heart of the Argon pressure monitoring system.(Grants/contracts)(Brief Article)
January 15, 2004... Argon Medical Devices (Athens, Texas) said it has chosen MemsTech (Singapore) as a partner to provide the transducer device that is the heart of the Argon pressure monitoring system. The value of the contract was not disclosed. Rick Foster,...

Caliper changes name to Caliper Life Sciences.(Brief Article)
January 15, 2004... Caliper Technologies (Hopkinton, Massachusetts) said at the 22nd annual JP Morgan Healthcare Conference being held this week in San Francisco, California, that the company will formally change its name to Caliper Life Sciences. The company said...

In a proposed acquisition that has ties to one of last year's biggest deals in the medical monitoring sector, OSI Systems (Hawthorne, California) has signed an agreement to purchase Spacelabs Medical (Issaquah, Washington), a maker of patient monitoring and clinical information systems.(Deals roundup)
January 15, 2004... In a proposed acquisition that has ties to one of last year's biggest deals in the medical monitoring sector, OSI Systems (Hawthorne, California) has signed an agreement to purchase Spacelabs Medical (Issaquah, Washington), a maker of patient...

Vital Images (Plymouth, Minnesota), a medical imaging software company, has agreed to acquire HInnovation (Milwaukee, Wisconsin), a provider of software solutions that allow physicians to use PCs or notebooks to access 2-D, 3-D and 4-D medical imaging applications security over the Internet.(Deals roundup)(Brief Article)
January 15, 2004... Vital images (Plymouth, Minnesota), a medical imaging software company, has agreed to acquire HInnovation (Milwaukee, Wisconsin), a provider of software solutions that allow physicians to use PCs or notebooks to access 2-D, 3-D and 4-D medical...

LabOne (Lenexa, Kansas) said it will acquire the assets of the Northwest Toxicology drug testing division of NWT (Salt Lake City, Utah).(Deals roundup)(Brief Article)
January 15, 2004... LabOne (Lenexa, Kansas) said it will acquire the assets of the Northwest Toxicology drug testing division of NWT (Salt Lake City, Utah). Northwest Toxicology has been a SAMHSA-certified laboratory since 1989. LabOne said the combination of its...

Cor Equity Holdings (Tampa, Florida) reported closing the purchase of Medical Home Products (Tampa, Florida), a distributor of disposable medical products, such as home test kits, diagnostic devices and other medical items.(Deals roundup)(Brief Article)
January 15, 2004... Cor Equity Holdings (Tampa, Florida) reported closing the purchase of Medical Home Products (Tampa, Florida), a distributor of disposable medical products, such as home test kits, diagnostic devices and other medical items. Terms were not...

Intermagnetics General (Latham, New York) reported that the Hart-Scott-Rodino waiting period has expired without any requests for additional information or documentary material regarding its acquisition of Invivo (Pleasanton, California).(Deals roundup)(Brief Article)
January 15, 2004... Intermagnetics General (Latham, New York) reported that the Hart-Scott-Rodino waiting period has expired without any requests for additional information or documentary material regarding its acquisition of Invivo (Pleasanton, California)....

Bruker BioSciences.(People In Places)(Brief Article)
January 15, 2004... Bruker BioSciences (Billerica, Massachusetts) said that Dr. Martin Haase will leave the company at the end of April to pursue other interests. Haase presently serves as senior vice president of Bruker BioSciences, and as president and chief...

CAS Medical Systems.(People In Places)(Brief Article)
January 15, 2004... Jeffery Baird has been appointed chief financial officer of CAS Medical Systems (Branford, Connecticut), Baird most recently was vice president of administration and CFO, of QDx. CAS Medical Systems develops blood pressure measurement...

Covance.(People In Places)(Brief Article)
January 15, 2004... Richard Cimino was appointed vice president and general manager of Covance's (Princeton, New Jersey) Central Diagnostics business. Previously, Cimino held senior management positions for multiple lines of business at Eastman Kodak. Covance is a...

Meridian Bioscience.(People In Places)(Brief Article)
January 15, 2004... Gregory Ballish has joined Meridian Bioscience (Cincinnati, Ohio) as vice president, sales and marketing, Ballish formerly held senior sales management and strategic customer marketing roles with Janssen Pharmaceutica. Meridian manufactures a...

OmniCorder Technologies.(People In Places)(Brief Article)
January 15, 2004... Mihai Dimancescu, MD, has joined OmniCorder Technologies (East Setauket, New York) as vice president of medical affairs. Dimancescu, is a board certified neurosurgeon and researcher. OmniCorder develops medical imaging applications using...

Qiagen.(People In Places)(Brief Article)
January 15, 2004... Noel Thomas Doheny has joined Qiagen (Venlo, the Netherlands) as vice president, solutions for molecular diagnostics. Doheny will be a member of the newly introduced executive committee of Qiagen and will be based in Qiagen's Maryland...

Spectral Diagnostics (Toronto, Ontario) and IDx, a private research corporation owned by Spectral and a group of investors led by the Canadian Medical Discoveries Fund, jointly reported that Joseph Keffer, MD, will assume leadership of the newly formed joint venture.(People In Places)(Brief Article)
January 15, 2004... Spectral Diagnostics (Toronto, Ontario) and IDx, a private research corporation owned by Spectral and a group of investors led by the Canadian Medical Discoveries Fund, jointly reported that Joseph Keffer, MD, will assume leadership of the...

Strategic Diagnostics.(People In Places)(Brief Article)
January 15, 2004... Strategic Diagnostics (Newark, Delaware), a provider of antibody products and analytical test kits for the food safety and water quality markets, said that it has eliminated the chief operating officer position, and therefore, Chief Operating...

Abbott Laboratories (Abbott Park, Illinois) reported that a veterinary biological product license application for its bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) test was submitted and is pending review by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.(Product Briefs)(Brief Article)
January 15, 2004... Abbott Laboratories (Abbott Park, Illinois) reported that a veterinary biological product license application for its bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) test was submitted and is pending review by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Under a...

Affymetrix.(Product Briefs)(Affymetrix Inc. launches genome genechip array)(Brief Article)
January 15, 2004... Affymetrix (Santa Clara, California) reported the launch of a Plasmodium/Anopheles Genome GeneChip Array, terming it the first commercial array that can be used to simultaneously study the entire expressed genomes of both the host mosquito,...

Biophan Technologies (Rochester, New York), a developer of advanced biomedical technology, said its licensor for nanomagnetic particle technologies has been issued a U.S. patent covering the use of nanomagnetic particle technology on medical devices including catheters, guidewires, endoscopes and other medical devices.(Product Briefs)(Brief Article)
January 15, 2004... Biophan Technologies (Rochester, New York), a developer of advanced biomedical technology, said its licensor for nanomagnetic particle technologies has been issued a U.S. patent covering the use of nanomagnetic particle technology on medical...

Eksigent Technologies.(Product Briefs)(high performance liquid chromatography system)(Brief Article)
January 15, 2004... Eksigent Technologies (Livermore, California) said that its Express high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) system will be introduced at Pittcon 2004, to be held this March in Chicago, Illinois. The Express system is an integrated HPLC...

Given Imaging (Yokneam, Israel) reported that Olympus (Melville, New York) has submitted a request to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to re-examine certain claims of one of Given Imaging's five U.S. patents.(Product Briefs)(Brief Article)
January 15, 2004... Given Imaging (Yokneam, Israel) reported that Olympus (Melville, New York) has submitted a request to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to re-examine certain claims of one of Given Imaging's five U.S. patents. This process is expected to be...

Hycor Biomedical.(Product Briefs)(Brief Article)
January 15, 2004... Hycor Biomedical (Garden Grove, California) said that all of the company's product lines have been CE-marked in the European Union under the In Vitro Diagnostics Directive. These products include the Hy-Tec 288 Automated Immunoassay System and...

Varian Medical Systems.(Product Briefs)(Brief Article)
January 15, 2004... Varian Medical Systems (Palo Alto, California) has received FDA 510(k) clearance for its Trilogy system, a linear accelerator for stereotactic as well as advanced forms of radiotherapy. The Trilogy system can be used to deliver stereotactic...

Varian gets FDA clearance 3-D cone-beam CT system.
January 22, 2004... Varian Medical Systems (Palo Alto, California) has received 510(k) marketing clearance for its 3-D cone-beam computed tomography (CT) imaging system for use on a radiation therapy simulation and verification device. The cone-beam CT, which...

First triplex NAT assay for blood screening is approved.(Report from Europe)(nucleic acid test)(Brief Article)
January 22, 2004... Chiron (Emeryville, California) said the Procleix Ultrio Assay used for the simultaneous detection of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), hepatitis C virus (HCV) and hepatitis B virus (HBV) in donated blood now bears the CE mark and...

Dade Behring touts its growing position in lab instruments.(JPMorgan Healthcare Conference)
January 22, 2004... SAN FRANCISCO, California -- Dade Behring (Deerfield, Illinois) likes to refer to itself as "the largest company in the world singularly focused on clinical diagnostics," but it may also be able to wear another mantle, that of "the only company...

Exagen sees broad opportunity in genome marker diagnostics.(Exagen Diagnostics )
January 22, 2004... When a physician diagnoses a patient with a life-threatening disease, the information he or she can provide to a patient doesn't always have to stop there. And Exagen Diagnostics (Albuquerque, New Mexico) is betting its technology will in...

IOM boldly sets election issue: universal U.S. health coverage.(Institute of Medicine )
January 22, 2004... WASHINGTON -- For the first time, a prestigious government institute is recommending that the United States guarantee health insurance for all citizens. The failure to provide healthcare coverage to all Americans by 2010 will lead to...

HealthSouth refinances debt; PrognostiX gets $6m investment.(Financings roundup)
January 22, 2004... HealthSouth (Birmingham, Alabama) reported refinancing its 3.25% convertible subordinated debentures, due April 1, from the net proceeds of a $555 million loan arranged by Credit Suisse First Boston. The new senior subordinated term loan has an...

Sontra Medical (Franklin, Massachusetts), said it has received a $1.5 million licensing payment from Bayer Diagnostics (Tarrytown, New York).(Financings roundup)(Brief Article)
January 22, 2004... Sontra Medical (Franklin, Massachusetts), said it has received a $1.5 million licensing payment from Bayer Diagnostics (Tarrytown, New York) pursuant to a licensing agreement executed in July 2003 with the Diagnostics Division of Bayer...

Clinical Data (Newton, Massachusetts) reported that the Securities and Exchange Commission has declared effective the company's shelf registration covering more than 2.67 million shares of its common stock.(Financings roundup)(Brief Article)
January 22, 2004... Clinical Data (Newton, Massachusetts) reported that the Securities and Exchange Commission has declared effective the company's shelf registration covering more than 2.67 million shares of its common stock. Other than 200,000 of the shares...

Igen shareholders to meet regarding $1.4b Roche merger.(Deals roundup)(IGEN International Inc., Roche Holding Ltd.)(Brief Article)
January 22, 2004... Igen International (Gaithersburg, Maryland) set a Feb. 13 special meeting of stockholders, at which they will be asked to vote to adopt the previously announced $1.4 billion merger agreement with Roche Holding (Basel, Switzerland). ...

Genzyme (Cambridge, Massachusetts) reported that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has closed its review of the company's 2001 acquisition of Novazyme Pharmaceuticals (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma).(Brief Article)
January 22, 2004... Genzyme (Cambridge, Massachusetts) reported that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has closed its review of the company's 2001 acquisition of Novazyme Pharmaceuticals (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma). The FTC review sought to determine whether there...

TIAX to research device for data collection of stress on soldiers.(Grants/contracts)
January 22, 2004... TIAX (Cambridge, Massachusetts), a collaborative technology development firm, reported being awarded a contract by the U.S. Department of Defense Small Business Innovation Research program to explore the development of a medical data collection...

Photogen fails to meet Nasdaq rule.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
January 22, 2004... Photogen Technologies (San Diego, California) said that on Jan. 7 it received a Nasdaq staff determination indicating that because it did not hold an annual meeting of its stockholders during 2003 it fails to comply with the requirements for...

Somanetics has record sales, earnings in 4Q, fiscal year.(Earnings roundup)
January 22, 2004... Somanetics (Troy, Michigan) reported record financial results for the fiscal fourth quarter and year ended Nov. 30. Net revenues increased 44% to just over $2.9 million compared to just over $1.02 million in the same 2002 period. U.S. net...

AMDL's cancer blood test certified.(Briefly Noted)(AMDL Inc.)(Brief Article)
January 22, 2004... AMDL (Tustin, California), developer and marketer of tests for the early detection of cancer and other serious diseases, said that its DR-70 non-invasive cancer blood test has received certification for EN ISO 13485, a key global standard to...

TriPath Imaging (Burlington, North Carolina) said it has entered into an agreement with The Methodist Hospital (Houston, Texas).(Agreements)(Brief Article)
January 22, 2004... TriPath Imaging (Burlington, North Carolina) said it has entered into an agreement with The Methodist Hospital (Houston, Texas). Under the terms of the agreement, The Methodist Hospital will begin using TriPath's SurePath liquid-based Pap test...

Acculmage of Diagnostic.(People In Places)(Brief Article)
January 22, 2004... The board of directors Acculmage of Diagnostic (South San Francisco, California) has nominated Aviel Faliks, PhD, to a seat on the board and also has recommended that Faliks be named chief executive officer. Faliks has worked in asset...

Fischer Imaging.(People In Places)(Brief Article)
January 22, 2004... David Kirwan has been appointed senior vice president and chief financial officer of Fischer Imaging (Denver, Colorado), effective Feb. 1. He will succeed Stephen Burke, who has resigned. The company also reported that its controller, Todd...

HealtheTech.(People In Places)(Brief Article)
January 22, 2004... Steve Webb resigned as chief financial officer of HealtheTech (Golden, Colorado), effective Dec. 31. The company said its recent restructuring into a smaller size led Webb to conclude that it no longer needed a financial officer of his...

Molecular Imaging.(People In Places)(Brief Article)
January 22, 2004... Dennis Mulroy has been named chief financial officer Molecular Imaging (San Diego, California). Mulroy's industry experience includes working with a "Big 4" accounting firm, as well as life sciences, medical device, telecommunications and...