Health Industry Today articles from February 1997

Health Industry Today archives from February 1997

Sutures market still dominated by Johnson & Johnson.
February 1, 1997... The market for sutures is one of those segments in U.S. health care supply that is clearly dominated by one player. But even as market players large and small await an impending contract award decision by supergroup Premier Inc. that has the...

J&J's settlement with Cook sends mixed signals to coronary stent segment. (Johnson and Johnson; Cook Group Inc.)
February 1, 1997... Early January brought a measure of good news to a U.S. coronary stent segment that is both bursting with dollars and dominated by a single manufacturer. On Jan. 9, Johnson & Johnson announced it had reached an out-of-court settlement with Cook...

Drug wholesaler Cardinal lures away Allegiance's Zollars. (Cardinal Health Inc.; Allegiance Corp.; Robert Zollars)
February 1, 1997... Cardinal Health Inc. may have just hired Robert Zollars, the top distribution executive for Allegiance Corp., but don't expect the fast-growing Dublin, Ohio-based drug wholesaler to put together a plan to cross-sell its pharmaceuticals with...

CardioThoracic Systems making big push for minimally invasive heart products.
February 1, 1997... CardioThoracic Systems Inc., Cupertino, Calif., reports that the first Minimally Invasive Direct Coronary Artery Bypass (MIDCAB) procedures using its CTS MIDCAB[TM] System were performed in mid-December at Columbia Hospital Medical City, in...

Owens picks up four more prime vendor awards from DoD. (Owens and Minor Inc.; Department of Defense)
February 1, 1997... The general upswing for Owens & Minor Inc. continued through the end of 1996 when the Richmond, Va.-based distributor was awarded approximately $30 million in first-year new business thanks to four medical-surgical supply prime vendor contracts...

Allegiance acquires consulting firm. (Allegiance Corp.; West Hudson and Co.)
February 1, 1997... Allegiance Corp., the McGaw Park, Ill.-based Baxter International spinoff, acquired a consulting firm that bolsters Allegiance's cost-management program offerings in the areas of cost, labor productivity and hospital quality. For an undisclosed...

Mercy group raises contract compliance, changes name. (Mercy National Purchasing Inc. changes name to Mercy Resource Management Inc.)
February 1, 1997... Newly renamed Mercy Resource Management Inc. (MRMI) says it posted its highest annual contract participation level in 1995, with total documented member contract purchases of more than $741 million. Based in Naperville, Ill., Mercy Resource...

Johnson & Johnson Medical launches first powder-free surgical glove.
February 1, 1997... Johnson & Johnson Medical Inc. is confident it can raid market share territory that has been dominated by a powerful competitor with the introduction of its MICRO-TOUCH(*) Powder-Free Latex Surgical Glove. Arlington, Texas-based J&J Medical...

Promotions in full swing, Kodak begins sales of new cassette-screen-film system. (Eastman Kodak Co.'s EC-L film system)
February 1, 1997... With the work of building strong interest in the medical community using a well-conceived slate of trade show activity and a clever sales piece now complete, a new cassette-screen-film system to help radiation oncologists is now available for...

CardioDynamics' new BioZ offers noninvasive hemodynamic monitoring. (CardioDynamics International Corp.)
February 1, 1997... Its FDA clearance in hand, CardioDynamics International is in the process of signing up key specialty distributors to sell its new product, the BioZ[TM], a noninvasive hemodynamic monitoring system. FDA approval for the device arrived in early...

St. Jude pacer 'cellular tested.' (St. Jude Medical Inc.)
February 1, 1997... Thanks to an early November nod from the FDA, St. Jude Medical Inc.'s Los Angeles-based Pacesetter subsidiary will market four of its product lines as "cellular tested." The company says it is the first pacemaker manufacturer to use the term on...

Shroud of financial secrecy lifts: General Medical goes public.
February 1, 1997... General Medical Corp. posted revenues of nearly $1.3 billion in the nine months ending Sept. 30, 1996, a 15.6% increase compared with the company's nine-month performance of 1995. The Richmond, Va.-based medical-surgical supply distributor also...

Eastman Kodak Co. (contract with New York Hospital)
February 1, 1997... Eastman Kodak Co., Rochester, N.Y., signed an agreement with The New York Hospital, a 1,304-bed institution in Manhattan, to begin installation of a fully electronic image and information management system for diagnostic images. Installation of...

Sigma Diagnostics. (contract with MedEcon Services Inc.)
February 1, 1997... Sigma Diagnostics, a division of St. Louis-based Sigma Aldrich Corp., signed an agreement with MedEcon Services Inc., Louisville, Ky., covering Sigma's lines of hemostasis instrumentation, infinity co-ox liquid carbon dioxide reagents, LDL...

Smith & Nephew. (contract with Mid-Atlantic Group Network of Shared Services)
February 1, 1997... Smith & Nephew, Memphis, Tenn., signed a three-year sole-source agreement with the Mid-Atlantic Group Network of Shared Services, better known as MAGNET, that offers MAGNET members savings for endoscopy and visualization equipment. The devices...

Sabratek Corp. (contract with Cleveland Clinic)
February 1, 1997... Sabratek Corp., Niles, Ill., signed a contract with the Cleveland Clinic to supply its 6060 Homerun[TM] ambulatory infusion pumps and its MediVIEW[TM] software system to the Clinic's pain management program.

Intelligent Medical Imaging Inc. (contracts involving Micro21 automated microscopy technology platform)
February 1, 1997... Intelligent Medical Imaging Inc., Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., signed three agreements involving its Micro21[TM] automated microscopy technology platform. The first contract is an OEM agreement with DiaSys Corp., Waterbury, Conn., the second is an...

Quidel Corp. (contract with MedPartners Inc.)
February 1, 1997... Quidel Corp., San Diego, signed a three-year primary vendor contract with MedPartners Inc., Birmingham, Ala., to supply MedPartners' physician groups with Quidel's entire range of rapid diagnostic tests. MedPartners says it is the nation's...

Siemens Medical Systems Inc. Ultrasound Group. (contract with Thomas Jefferson University Hospital)
February 1, 1997... Siemens Medical Systems Inc. Ultrasound Group, Issaquah, Wash., signed an agreement with The Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia, in which the hospital's Education Institute will provide customized ultrasound courses to Siemens...

Bioject Medical Technologies Inc. (supply contract with New York City Department of Health)
February 1, 1997... Bioject Medical Technologies Inc., Portland, Ore., will supply its Biojector 2000[R] Needle-Free Injection Management System[TM] to the Dept. of Health for the City of New York for use in its hepatitis B vaccine program. The injections will be...

The St. John Companies Inc. (supply contract with Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp.)
February 1, 1997... The St. John Companies Inc., Valencia, Calif., signed a two-year agreement with Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp., Nashville, Tenn., that makes St. John the exclusive provider of a broad range of labeling products, including those covering medical...

Osteotech Inc. (contract with American Red Cross Tissue Services)
February 1, 1997... Osteotech Inc., Eatontown, N.J., signed a new ten-year agreement that makes it the exclusive processor of musculoskeletal tissue procured and distributed by American Red Cross Tissue Services. The deal also includes continued marketing and...

Medline Industries Inc. (supply contracts)
February 1, 1997... Medline Industries Inc., Mundelein, Ill., signed two capitated supply partnerships that guarantee savings to its hospital customers. The first was a five-year agreement with 225-bed St. Luke's Hospital, San Francisco, that guarantees savings of...

Exclusive listing of upcoming GPO contract expirations. (group purchasing organizations)
February 1, 1997... A continuing feature of Health Industry Today is our exclusive listing of expiring product and service contracts signed by vendors with group purchasing organizations. This month, as we did in October 1996, we report on major contracts with...

J&J, Nellcor, others sign pacts with Shared Services Healthcare.
February 1, 1997... A passel of new and renewal agreements in the materials management, operating room supplies and laboratory supplies segments were signed in December by Shared Services Healthcare, Atlanta. Each of the agreements is for two years, plus an...

Physician selling: what physicians want from a salesperson.
February 1, 1997... You're selling to physicians every day. Your livelihood depends on it. You know your products, you know your geography. Yet, do you really know what doctors want from you? Many salespeople think they know what it takes to sell to a physician....

St. Jude Medical Inc. (stock listing on New York Stock Exchange)
February 1, 1997... St. Jude Medical Inc., St. Paul, Minn., has begun listing its stock on the New York Stock Exchange after trading on the NASDAQ for nearly 20 years, since the company went public in February 1977. The new symbol, which began listing in early...

AccuMed International Inc. (marketing partnership with Curtin Matheson Scientific)
February 1, 1997... 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...

Thermo Cardiosystems Inc. (acquires Nimbus Medical Inc.)
February 1, 1997... Thermo Cardiosystems Inc., Waltham, Mass., acquired Nimbus Medical Inc., Rancho Cordova, Calif., a research and development company involved in artificial heart technology, specifically in ventricular-assist devices and total artificial hearts....

Sherwood-Davis & Geck. (capital investments in Ballymoney, Northern Ireland plant)
February 1, 1997... Sherwood-Davis & Geck, St. Louis, will invest approximately $27.3 million to expand production and introduce new products at its facility in Ballymoney, Northern Ireland. Sherwood-Davis & Geck, a subsidiary of American Home Products, Madison,...

CONMED Corp. (supply contract with Futuro Inc.)
February 1, 1997... CONMED Corp., Utica, N.Y., signed an agreement with Futuro Inc., Cincinnati, to supply Futuro with variations of its patented Clearsite [R] wound care technology for the consumer market. Marketing of the Clearsite products is expected to begin...

Nicolet Biomedical Inc. (acquires Neuroguard transcranial Doppler equipment line from Medasonics Inc.)
February 1, 1997... Nicolet Biomedical Inc., Madison, Wis., has acquired the Neuroguard transcranial Doppler equipment product line from Medasonics Inc., Fremont, Calif. Nicolet says that the product line, when combined with the existing Nicolet-EME TCD group, will...

NeoPath Inc. (distribution agreement with Nikon Corp.)
February 1, 1997... NeoPath Inc., Redmond, Wash., and Nikon have signed a minimum five-year distribution agreement for NeoPath's AutoPap System. NeoPath will provide technical support and Tokyo-based Nikon's trained sales personnel under terms of the agreement,...

Nellcor Puritan Bennett Inc. (acquires non-home care assets of New Mexico Steel Co.)
February 1, 1997... Nellcor Puritan Bennett Inc., Overland Park, Kan., and Tri-Gas Inc., a regional industrial gas producer and distributor, have created a strategic alliance and purchased the non-home care assets of New Mexico Steel Co., Albuquerque, N.M. The deal...

Olicon Imaging Systems Inc. (product development agreement with IDX Systems Corp.)
February 1, 1997... Olicon Imaging Systems Inc., San Clemente, Calif., and IDX Systems Corp., Chicago, will form a coordinated effort to develop an interface between their respective products in picture archiving and communications systems thanks to an agreement...

Medtronic Inc. (contract with Vista Medical Technologies Inc.)
February 1, 1997... Medtronic Inc., Minneapolis, and Vista Medical Technologies Inc., Carlsbad, Calif., signed an agreement under which the companies will collaborate in promoting Vista advanced visualization systems for minimally invasive cardiothoracic surgery in...

Baxter Healthcare Corp.'s CardioVascular Group. (starts production of tissue heart valves in Irvine, California)
February 1, 1997... Baxter Healthcare Corp.'s CardioVascular Group, Irvine, Calif., received FDA approval to begin production at what the company calls the world's largest tissue heart valve manufacturing facility in this Orange County city. Initial production at...

Midmark Corp. (to acquire Knight Manufacturing Inc.)
February 1, 1997... Midmark Corp., Versailles, Ohio, signed a letter of intent to acquire Knight Manufacturing Inc., Asheville, N.C., a dental equipment manufacturer. The deal marks further expansion into the dental market for Midmark, a manufacturer of medical...

Cook Pacemaker Corp. (changes name to Cook Vascular Inc.)
February 1, 1997... Cook Pacemaker Corp., Leechburg, Pa., last month changed its name to Cook Vascular [TM] Inc., in a move aimed at "more appropriately identifying the company with its present product lines and future development." Since the late 1980s, the company...

Genzyme Corp.'s General Division. (launches full line of endoscopic surgery equipment)
February 1, 1997... Genzyme Corp.'s General Division, Cambridge, Mass., launched a full line of instruments for use in endoscopic cardiac bypass graft procedures to be marketed under the brand name EndoCABG [TM] System. The instruments are an outgrowth of a...

EchoCath Inc. (forms strategic alliance with Medtronic Inc.)
February 1, 1997... EchoCath Inc., Princeton, N.J., formed a strategic alliance with Medtronic Inc., Minneapolis, that calls for Medtronic to use certain of EchoCath's proprietary technologies to enable the precise positioning of pacemaker leads within the heart...

Hewlett-Packard Co. (supply contract with Heartport Inc.)
February 1, 1997... Hewlett-Packard Co., Palo Alto, Calif., and Heartport Inc., Redwood City, Calif., have signed to equip the new Heartport Research and Training Center in Salt Lake City as well as at other international training sites with the recently introduced...

Varian Imaging Products. (cooperative development agreement with CompuMed Inc.)
February 1, 1997... Varian Imaging Products, Palo Alto, Calif., signed a cooperative development agreement with CompuMed Inc., Manhattan Beach, Calif., centering around applying Varian's amorphous silicon technology for use in appendicular bone mass measurement and...

Rogan Medical Systems. (reselling agreement with InTelemed)
February 1, 1997... Rogan Medical Systems, Waukesha, Wis., signed an agreement with InTelemed, Oklahoma City, Okla., that allows InTelemed to private label and resell Rogan radiology-related acquisition, storage and display systems nationally under the name...

Brymill Cryogenic Systems. (opens UK sales, service and repair center)
February 1, 1997... Brymill Cryogenic Systems, Ellington, Conn., a manufacturer of hand-held cryogenic surgical equipment, says it has opened a European sales, service and repair center in Great Britain, the company's first offshore, full-service office.

Meridian Medical Technologies Inc. (opens consolidated headquarters in Columbia, Maryland)
February 1, 1997... Meridian Medical Technologies Inc., Columbia, Md., opened a new consolidated corporate headquarters in this Maryland locale. The company was formed via the recent merger of Survival Technology Inc., Rockville, Md., and Brunswick Biomedical Corp.,...

InnerDyne Inc. (manufacturing agreement with Sherwood-Davis and Geck)
February 1, 1997... InnerDyne Inc., Sunnyvale, Calif., signed an agreement with Sherwood-Davis & Geck, St. Louis, that makes InnerDyne the exclusive manufacturer of a Sherwood-Davis & Geck's Step[TM] product. The specialized Step is a product designed to improve...

Palomar Medical Technologies Inc. (becomes equity partner in LaTIS Inc.)
February 1, 1997... Palomar Medical Technologies Inc., Beverly, Mass., has signed on as an equity partner in LaTIS Inc., a new company formed to use Palomar's Laser Thrombolysis technology to develop a pulsed-dye laser system for treating stroke. Palomar's partners...

RSNA product introductions blow through the Windy City. (82nd scientific assembly and annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America)
February 1, 1997... Among the 654 vendors that crammed their diagnostic imaging equipment and supplies onto the exhibit floor at Chicago's massive McCormick Place in December for the 82nd scientific assembly and annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North...

Stockless growth stalls in 4Q96; signings at standstill. (stockless supply agreements between medical-surgical supply distributors and hospitals)
February 1, 1997... For the first time since the inception of the quarterly Stockless Scorecard in 1986, not a single contract for stockless distribution services was signed. The Health Industry Today survey of major medical-surgical supply distributors revealed...

Premier rolls out more contracts, but some vendors unhappy about early compliance. (Premier Inc.)
February 1, 1997... Even as Premier Inc. picked up its pace of rolling out mega-contract awards in December and January, there has been some unexpected grumbling heard from manufacturers. And, the murmurs have been coming from the ranks of contract winners as well...

Purchasing managers: manufacturing sector growth accelerates in December.
February 1, 1997... Late year economic activity in the nation's manufacturing sector grew at a faster rate in December than in November, according to the most recent report from the National Assn. of Purchasing Management. At the same time, the overall economy...