Health Industry Today articles from December 1996

Health Industry Today archives from December 1996

Distributors find big opportunity in alternate site sales. (medical-supplies distributors)(Industry Overview)
December 1, 1996... As providers follow the patient - and the money trail - from acute care to alternate care settings, so do distributors of medical supplies. Now, the distributor end of the alternate care supply chain has sprung a few superstars, companies that...

Profits roll in as J&J remains unchallenged in U.S. stent market. (Johnson and Johnson)
December 1, 1996... There is virtual across-the-board unanimity among physicians that stents - those tiny mesh-like devices that act as a scaffold to prop open a clogged artery - do their job and do it well. Stents have been available on the U.S. market only for...

Like lap cholys, "keyhole" surgery could transform heart bypass product mix.
December 1, 1996... A new minimally invasive coronary procedure holds promise for reshaping the heart bypass procedure segment in much the same way as minimally invasive lap cholecystectomy did in the 1980s. For device manufacturers who sell products for bypass...

Baxter wins big in Premier sweepstakes: seven-year, $7 billion contract award.
December 1, 1996... Baxter Healthcare Corp. and its recent spinoff Allegiance Healthcare Corp. pulled off a major coup last month with the signing of a wide-ranging corporate partnership agreement with Premier Inc., the Chicago, San Diego and Charlotte, N.C.-based...

St. Jude takes bold steps in defibrillator segment. (St. Jude Medical Inc.)
December 1, 1996... A series of cleverly crafted transactions could soon catapult St. Jude Medical Inc. into the midst of a market share battle with Guidant and Medtronic in the fast growing defibrillator segment. The intricate deals, which were announced...

Neovision's Sonopsy system could grow fast in breast cancer diagnosis market.
December 1, 1996... Neovision is banking that a low list price for its new, high-quality dedicated biopsy device system, which provides ultrasound guidance and three-dimensional imaging of a breast, will place its system - known as the Sonopsy[TM] - into physicians'...

Ethicon says PowerStar bipolar scissors will cost-effectively raise performance.
December 1, 1996... Ethicon Inc. is approaching the nation's surgeons on the clinical side, but also marketing to managed care providers for support in the buying decision for its latest product, the PowerStar Bipolar Scissors. The Somerville, N.J.-based...

Angelica/Life Uniform launch scrubs to meet bottled-up demand.
December 1, 1996... Within the past three to four years, many health care providers, including some hospitals, have begun shifting the responsibility for purchasing and laundering scrubs and jackets to the personnel themselves. In an effort to meet this demand, and...

Safeskin points to success with new powder-free latex surgeons' glove.
December 1, 1996... Using data from a NASA research program on several thousand hand measurements and spatial relationships, Safeskin Corp. has crafted and launched a new powder-free latex surgical glove for U.S. physicians. Now, the San Diego-based manufacturer has...

Aspect Medical battles standard practice loyalty to sell monitoring device. (Aspect Medical Systems Inc.; Bispectral Index)
December 1, 1996... Aspect Medical Systems Inc. is setting its sights on what might be the toughest competitor around in its efforts to sell its Bispectral Index (BIS). The newly cleared device provides anesthesiologists with a noninvasive, direct means of...

Uarco Inc. (form printing contract with Kaiser Permanente)
December 1, 1996... Uarco Inc., Barrington, Ill., picked up a contract award from Kaiser Permanente of Southern California worth approximately $2 million for forms printing and consultative services. Under terms of the deal, Uarco will produce and distribute all...

Abbott Laboratories. (signs three-year contract for spinal anesthesia and nerve block needle trays with VHA Inc.)
December 1, 1996... Abbott Laboratories, Abbott Park, Ill., signed a three-year contract with VHA Inc., Irving, Texas, to produce epidural and spinal anesthesia trays and lumbar puncture and nerve block needle trays for the group's VHA PLUS[R] private label line....

Picker International. (signs five-year medical supply contract with Bon Secours Health Systems Inc.)
December 1, 1996... Picker International, Cleveland, signed a five-year supply distribution agreement with Bon Secours Health Systems Inc., Marriottsville, Md., which operates 15 hospitals and seven nursing care centers in six states. The agreement, valued at...

LORAD Medical Systems Corp. (signs two-year contract for diagnostic equipment with VHA Inc.)
December 1, 1996... LORAD Medical Systems Corp., Danbury, Conn., signed a two-year agreement with VHA Inc., Irving, Texas, for mammographic imaging and diagnostic imaging equipment. Included in the contract are discounts of between 22% and 25% on equipment such as...

Staff Builders Inc. (signs medical supply contract with Medline Industries Inc.)
December 1, 1996... Staff Builders Inc., Lake Success, N.Y., launched its InControl internal medical supply program and announced an agreement with Medline Industries Inc., Mundelein, Ill., to be Staff Builders' preferred provider of medical supplies. Staff...

Ransdell Surgical Inc. (signs five-year medical supply contract with Baptist Healthcare System)
December 1, 1996... Ransdell Surgical Inc., Louisville, Ky., signed a $100 million, five-year renewal agreement with 1,546-bed Baptist Healthcare System in Kentucky that covers a complete materials management software system as well as all medical-surgical products...

Southwestern Bell. (signs three-year contract for videoconferencing services with VHA Inc.)
December 1, 1996... Southwestern Bell, San Antonio, signed a three-year contract valued at more than $3 million in the first year with VHA Inc., Irving, Texas, to provide a range of videoconferencing services and equipment designed to improve patient care and cut...

Applied Medical Resources. (to provide embolectomy catheters to Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp.)
December 1, 1996... Applied Medical Resources, Laguna Hills, Calif., won an award from Medline Industries Inc., Mundelein, Ill., that made it a preferred vendor to provide embolectomy catheters to Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp., Nashville, Tenn.

CardioThoracic Systems Inc. (signs contract with Tenet HealthSystem to train cardiac surgeons on the use of the CTS MIDCAB system)
December 1, 1996... CardioThoracic Systems Inc., Cupertino, Calif., signed a contract with Tenet HealthSystem Inc., Santa Barbara, Calif., to train Tenet-affiliated cardiac surgeons to use the company's CTS MIDCAB System. The first Tenet training course was held...

Quinton Instrument Co. (signs multiyear contracts with five hospital buying groups for cardiology instruments)
December 1, 1996... Quinton Instrument Co., Bothell, Wash., signed multiyear agreements with five national buying groups for the company's lines of cardiology instrumentation for cath lab, electrophysiology and noninvasive diagnostic procedures such as stress...

ThermoGenesis Corp. (to supply plasma freezers to Centeon Corp.)
December 1, 1996... ThermoGenesis Corp., Rancho Cordova, Calif., will sell its MP2000C[TM] plasma freezer, valued at nearly $4 million to Centeon Corp., a company of Armour and Behring. Centeon will install freezers at 32 of its plasma collection facilities...

Heartstream Inc. (to supply defibrillators to American Airlines)
December 1, 1996... Heartstream Inc., Seattle, will sell 300 defibrillators to American Airlines at approximately $4,000 each. The sale will make American the first U.S. airline to install defibrillators in its fleet.

Bergen making aggressive moves to become power in med-surg distribution. (Bergen Brunswig Corp.)
December 1, 1996... Far-reaching changes that include blending the company's pharmaceutical wholesaling and medical-surgical distribution capabilities will help make Bergen Brunswig number one or number two in overall sales in both segments within the next five...

Owens optimistic about inclusion in VHA distribution program. (Owens and Minor Inc.)
December 1, 1996... A key participant in the authorized distribution agent (ADA) program operated by Irving, Texas-based VHA Inc. says it is "positive" about the future of its business relationship with the big GPO. Owens & Minor Inc., Richmond, Va., whose $1...

Pall Corp. (acquires Gelman Sciences Inc.)
December 1, 1996... Pall Corp., East Hills, N.Y., will acquire Gelman Sciences Inc., Ann Arbor, Mich., in a stock deal scheduled to close during the first quarter of 1997. The merger brings together Pall, a $1 billion-a-year manufacturer of disposable filters and...

C.R. Bard Inc. (acquires Impra Inc.)
December 1, 1996... C.R. Bard Inc., Murray Hill, N.J., paid $143.2 million for Impra Inc., Tempe, Ariz., a manufacturer of vascular grafts and stents used in blood vessel replacement surgery. The amount is the highest Bard has ever paid for acquiring a company. Bard...

Stryker Corp. (wins lawsuit filed against Intermedics Orthopedics Corp.)
December 1, 1996... Stryker Corp., Kalamazoo, Mich., won affirmation of a 1995 decision by a federal appeals court that awarded Stryker $72.7 million from Intermedics Orthopedics Inc., Austin, Texas, for infringement of Stryker's U.S. patent on its OmniFlex Hip...

Digene Corp. (forms joint venture with Cytyc Corp.)
December 1, 1996... Digene Corp., Beltsville, Md., and Cytyc Corp., Boxborough, Mass., have formed an alliance aimed at maximizing the potential of Digene's DNA probe tests and Cytyc's specimen collection and preparation technology. A series of subagreements are...

Briggs Health Care Products. (changes name to Briggs Corp.)
December 1, 1996... Briggs Health Care Products, Des Moines, Iowa, has changed its name to Briggs Corp. The company is a supplier of regulatory products, education tools and medical supplies to nursing homes, home health agencies and hospitals.

Carl Zeiss Inc. (forms joint venture with Biological Detection Inc.)
December 1, 1996... Carl Zeiss Inc., Thornwood, N.Y., will develop and market high-precision and high-throughput systems for cell-based drug delivery with Pittsburgh-based Biological Detection Inc. (BDI) under terms of a new worldwide strategic alliance. As part of...

Dade International. (signs distribution contract with Emery Worldwide)
December 1, 1996... Dade International, Deerfield, Ill., awarded a six-year contract to manage and operate a dedicated distribution center for its in vitro diagnostic product lines to Emery Worldwide, Redwood City, Calif. The center, located in Anderlecht, Belgium,...

Nellcor Puritan Bennett. (signs distribution agreement with Transtracheal Systems Inc.)
December 1, 1996... Nellcor Puritan Bennett, Pleasanton, Calif., signed an exclusive distribution agreement with Transtracheal Systems Inc., Englewood, Colo., to market the DOC-2000 Demand Oxygen Controller throughout most of the U.S. and Canada. The device is used...

Advanced Technology Laboratories Inc. (forms joint venture with Shantou Institute of Ultrasonic Instruments)
December 1, 1996... Advanced Technology Laboratories Inc. (ATL), Bothell, Wash., has forged a strategic partnership with the Shantou Institute of Ultrasonic Instruments, the largest manufacturer of ultrasound systems in the People's Republic of China. The deal calls...

Imatron Inc. (has sold its 100th CT scanner to the People's Republic of China)
December 1, 1996... Imatron Inc., South San Francisco, Calif., shipped its 100th Ultrafast CT[R] scanner to the People's Republic of China in a deal worth approximately $4 million. One scanner will be installed at the Jinan Military District Hospital, while the...

AccuMed International Inc. (signs marketing agreement with Curtin Matheson Scientific)
December 1, 1996... AccuMed International Inc., Chicago, has signed a strategic marketing partnership with Houston-based Curtin Matheson Scientific (CMS); a division of Pittsburgh-based Fisher Scientific. The exclusive agreement is designed to provide a distribution...

Sparta Surgical Corp. (to acquire Orion Life Systems Inc.)
December 1, 1996... Sparta Surgical Corp., Pleasanton, Calif., will acquire Orion Life Systems Inc., Wheeling, Ill., for approximately $3 million under terms of a nonbinding letter of intent signed in early November. If certain conditions are met, the deal could...

Purchasing Managers: October growth rate slows further in manufacturing segment.(Industry Overview)
December 1, 1996... Economic activity in the nation's manufacturing sector continued on its sluggish pace in October, growing at a slower rate than in September, according to the most recent report from the National Assn. of Purchasing Management. Meanwhile, the...

Pyxis Corp. (appoints new company president.)
December 1, 1996... William D. Williams was named president of this Dublin, Ohio-based manufacturer of automated point-of-use systems for the distribution of medications and supplies. Williams' experience with Pyxis began in 1988, when he was hired as vice president...

Electroscope Inc. (appoints new director of market development)
December 1, 1996... Dave Shipps was named director of market development for this Boulder, Colo.-based manufacturer of a monopolar electrosurgical shielding system. Before joining Electroscope, Shipps held executive positions with the Bard Electro Medical Division...