Health Industry Today articles from January 1996

Health Industry Today archives from January 1996

Demand for skin resurfacing keys today's surgical laser sales.
January 1, 1996... For those companies canny enough to capitalize on the trend, falling reimbursements and the search for private pay patients have proven to be the salvation for manufacturers in the surgical laser segment. Baby Boomers closing in on their fifties...

Baxter's spin-off gambit: a 1993 idea whose time has come. (Baxter Hospital Supply)
January 1, 1996... Jim Tobin and Tony White shared an enjoyable laugh a few days after their Thanksgiving dinners when Baxter International announced plans to spin off its hospital supply business. The two former top-level Baxter executives, chief architects of...

Most vendors bullish, undaunted by latest GPO mega-merger. (group purchasing organization)
January 1, 1996... Medical-surgical supply vendors m general reacted positively to the stunning news of the latest giant merger between group purchasing organizations. In late November, Charlotte. N.C.-based SunHealth Alliance announced plans to join with two other...

Applied Vascular gains FDA nod for coronary stent trials. (Applied Vascular Engineering Inc.)
January 1, 1996... Applied Vascular Engineering, Inc., Santa Rosa, Calif., will begin clinical trials for its coronary stent delivery system following the FDA's investigational device exemption (IDE) approval for its Micro Stent[TM] . The result is believed to be...

Baxter acquires Psicor, a perfusionist provider, for $80 million. (Baxter Healthcare Corp.)
January 1, 1996... Just days before the announcement of its controversial split, Baxter Healthcare Corp., McGaw Park, Ill., disclosed that it had acquired San Diego-based Psicor, a provider of cardiovascular perfusion services to hospitals that perform open heart...

Smith & Nephew Richards to offer database program to orthopods.
January 1, 1996... Smith & Nephew Richards, Memphis, Tenn., has signed a five-year agreement with Summit Medical Systems, Inc., Minneapolis, that will provide database software products to orthopedic specialists. Under terms of the deal, Smith & Nephew Richards...

Picker, AT&T Capital agree to equipment financing pact. (Picker International)
January 1, 1996... Picker International, Cleveland, and AT&T Capital Corp., Morristown, N.J., have become equal equity partners in a joint venture that will provide customer financing to hospitals, clinics and other users of Picker's medical imaging systems and...

Comdisco survey: imaging sales suffer again in 1995.
January 1, 1996... With all modalities reporting increases in average age, the year 1995 marked a second straight sub-par year for diagnostic imaging equipment sales, according to the fifth annual study of acquisition trends by Comdisco, Inc., Rosemont, Ill. The...

Smith & Nephew takes blue pencil to bewildering business unit name lineup.
January 1, 1996... As part of a broader strategy calling for names of the group's businesses to reflect the medical disciplines they serve, a reorganization--including a name change--has been instituted by Memphis, Tenn.-based Smith & Nephew Richards. Under the...

Ethicon Endo acquires ultrasonic instrument manufacturer. (Ethicon Endo-Surgery Inc.; UltraCision Inc.)
January 1, 1996... Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc., Cincinnati, is the only company to offer a full line of both videoscopic (minimally invasive surgery) and ultrasonic surgical instruments, following its acquisition of UltraCision, Inc., Smithfield, R.I. UltraCision is...

Improved disease management the goal of Dornier/Acoustic Imaging combo.
January 1, 1996... The combination of two manufacturers has created a new single-source provider of dedicated ultrasound imaging and interventional therapy delivery systems. The new company, known as Dornier Medical Systems, Inc. (DMSI), was formed in November...

Steris-AMSCO merger brings together centralized and decentralized processors.
January 1, 1996... The $660 million merger of Steris Corp., Mentor, Ohio, with Pittsburgh-based AMSCO International will capitalize on complementary sales, operational, manufacturing, product development and expense control abilities to reach a shifting customer...

Standard Textile. (agreement with VHA Inc. for textiles and apparel)
January 1, 1996... Standard Textile signed a new, five-year, sole-source agreement with Irving, Texas-based VHA Inc. for textiles and apparel. The Cincinnati-based manufacturer has had contracts with VHA since 1986 but had shared the apparel portion of the...

Isolyser Co. (agreement with Sisters of Providence and the University HealthSystem Consortium for OREX Degradables)
January 1, 1996... Isolyser Co., Norcross, Gal, reached agreement with two group purchasing organizations for its line of OREX[R] Degradables. Seattle-based Sisters of Providence and the University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC), Oak Brook, Ill., signed contracts in...

Midmark Corp. (to provide diagnostic equipment to Operation Blessing Flying Hospital)
January 1, 1996... Midmark Corp., Versailles, Ohio, was chosen to supply medical exam equipment to Operation Blessing Flying Hospital, as part of a partnership between Midmark and Operation Blessing that began in December 1994. The hospital provides medical and...

Enterprise Systems Inc. (agreement with West Jersey Health System)
January 1, 1996... Enterprise Systems, Inc. (ESI), Wheeling, Ill., signed an agreement with the West Jersey Health System, a 740-bed multihospital integrated delivery system based in Camden, N.J., that includes four main components of ESI's integrated software. The...

Picker International. (testing of computer-assisted minimally invasive surgery system)
January 1, 1996... Picker International, Cleveland, will have two existing technologies, the ViewPoint[TM] computer-assisted surgery system and the Outlook[TM] MRI system, integrated into clinical trials of a computer assisted minimally invasive surgery (CAMIS)...

McKesson Drug Co.'s (agreement between McKesson healthcare division and Momentum Medical Corp.)
January 1, 1996... McKesson Drug Co.'s San Francisco-based home health care division has signed an exclusive, renewable distribution agreement with Momentum Medical Corp., Salt Lake City, for Momentum's lines of home health care products. The contract includes the...

Becton Dickinson Vascular Access. (agreement with VHA Inc.)
January 1, 1996... Becton Dickinson Vascular Access, Sandy, Utah, and VHA Inc., Irving, Texas, have reached agreement on a new purchasing contract that will upgrade VHA's I.V. infusion management program. The three-year agreement, which covers I.V. start kits,...

Bard Urological. (contract with VHA Inc.)
January 1, 1996... Bard Urological, Covington, Gal, signed a five-year contract extension with VHA Inc., Irving, Texas, that covers urological specialty items in addition to the acute care products that have been covered under Bard-VHA contracts since 1988. The...

Bracco Diagnostics. (renewal of contract with New Jersey Hospital Association)
January 1, 1996... Bracco Diagnostics, Princeton, N.J., signed a renewal of its contrast media agreement with the New Jersey Hospital Assn. that will be in effect through Aug. 31, 2000. The contract covers purchases of both ionic and non-ionic contrast agents.

Boehringer Mannheim Diagnostics' fast assay diagnoses heart attack.
January 1, 1996... Sales of a new rapid bedside assay that helps physicians diagnose heart attacks are under way, and its manufacturer, Boehringer Mannheim Diagnostics, expects that its speed and ease of use will translate into big sales for what it feels is a...

Implantable pump marks Strato/Infusaid's re-entry into pain management market.
January 1, 1996... After a five-year hiatus, Strato/Infusaid Inc., re-entered the pain management market in the fall when the FDA cleared its Infusaid Model 400 Single Catheter Constant Flow Implantable Pump. The Norwood, Mass.-based subsidiary of Pfizer Inc., New...

I-Flow promotes simple, low cost Band-It syringe delivery system.
January 1, 1996... I-Flow Corp. is hoping that cost-conscious hospitals will take to a low-cost, low-tech syringe delivery system that makes use of a common rubber band to help reduce customers' supply costs when delivering I.V. medications. The small Irvine,...

Outcomes studies becoming a "must" for successful device sales. (medical supplies and pharmaceutical companies)
January 1, 1996... As demand increases for proof of not only safety and efficacy, but the economic impact of today's medical devices and pharmaceuticals (especially biotech drugs), manufacturers in great numbers are turning to outcomes studies to prove their points...

Conmed Corp. (to acquire New Dimensions in Medicine Inc.)
January 1, 1996... Conmed Corp., Utica, N.Y., will acquire New Dimensions in Medicine, Inc. (NDM), Mellville, N.Y., for approximately $32 million in cash. The deal is expected to close either this month or early in 1996 and does not include NDM's international...

Mallinckrodt Medical Inc. (pharmacies launched in Florida and OHio)
January 1, 1996... Mallinckrodt Medical, Inc., St. Louis, opened nuclear medicine pharmacies in Miami, Fla., and in Columbus, Ohio, to supply diagnostic imaging and therapy products to hospitals and nuclear medicine clinics. The facilities became part of...

United States Surgical Corp. (minimally invasive coronary bypass operation using company's products)
January 1, 1996... United States Surgical Corp., Norwalk, Conn., reported that a French surgical team has successfully completed the first minimally invasive coronary bypass operation performed in France using the company's instruments. Surgeons there developed the...

Innovative Technologies Group. (agreement with 3M for global marketing)
January 1, 1996... Innovative Technologies Group, Cheshire, England, and Minneapolis-based 3M have reached agreement on a contract that establishes 3M as a global marketer of a new alginate wound care dressing. The deal makes 3M responsible for international...

Picker International. (company's Nuclear Medicine Division relocated to Highland Heights, Ohio)
January 1, 1996... Picker International, Cleveland, relocated its Nuclear Medicine Division to the company's world headquarters building in the Cleveland suburb of Highland Heights, Ohio. The move to the 85,000sf facility doubles the manufacturing and engineering...

Invacare Corp. (named one of best US mid-cap companies)
January 1, 1996... Invacare Corp., Elyria, Ohio, was named by Financial World magazine as one of the top 50 "best and brightest" mid-cap companies in America, defined as operations that have been public for at least six years and having a market capitalization of...

EDAP Technomed International. (prostate-reducing equipment that uses microwave)
January 1, 1996... EDAP Technomed International, a French manufacturer, learned that a device it hopes to sell in the U.S. has passed muster from an FDA advisory panel. The device, known as Prostatron, is the first in a new class of products that can shrink...

SangStat Medical Corp. (license application for heart-preserving product)
January 1, 1996... SangStat Medical Corp., Menlo Park, Calif., has filed a 510(k) with the FDA for market approval of its Celsior, a product designed to preserve the heart prior to cardiac transplantation and to promote graft function in the initial 48 hours...

UroMed Corp. (distribution agreement with Astra Tech for urinary control insert)
January 1, 1996... UroMed Corp., Needham, Mass., signed a five-year multinational distribution agreement with Astra Tech, a member of the Scandinavian-based Astra Group, for its Reliance[TM] Urinary Control Insert. The contract gives Astra Tech exclusive rights to...

Vollrath Group Inc. (capital improvements program at Tennessee production facility)
January 1, 1996... Vollrath Group, Inc., Memphis, Tenn., says it is nearing completion of a five-year, $10 million capital improvements program at its 150,000sf Gallaway, Tenn., production facility located about 35 miles northeast of Memphis. The program featured...

Oliver Products Co. (agreement to buy OnGard Systems' pre-formed medical pouch product line)
January 1, 1996... Oliver Products Co., Grand Rapids, Mich., a supplier of roll stock and blister lids for medical packaging in the U.S., has reached agreement to purchase the pre-formed medical pouch product line from Denver-based OnGard Systems, Inc. Oliver's...

Dade International. (sale of its Bartels subsidiary to Intracel Corp.)
January 1, 1996... Dade International, Deerfield, Ill., and Intracel Corp., Cambridge, Mass. completed the sale to Intracel of Dade's wholly owned Bartels subsidiary. The Bartels subsidiary, based in Issaquah, Wash., markets a line of viral-testing and related...

3M. (installation of 3M Dry View 8700 Laser Imager in Jacksonville's Mayo Clinic)
January 1, 1996... 3M, St. Paul, Minn., connected the first commercial 3M Dry View 8700 Laser Imager in the U.S. when it installed the unit at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla. The institution's department of diagnostic radiology will use the 8700 laser imager...

Healthcare Materials Services. (strategic alliance with Kowalski-Dickow Associates Inc.)
January 1, 1996... Healthcare Materials Services (HMS), a pharmacy and materials services outsourcing concern, and a division of Houston-based Owen Healthcare, Inc., and Kowalski-Dickow Associates, Inc., Milwaukee, have formed a strategic alliance designed to...

Cantel Industries Inc. (to acquire MediVators Inc.)
January 1, 1996... Cantel Industries, Inc., Clifton, N.J., will acquire MediVators, Inc., Cannon Falls, Minn., through a stock swap agreement. MediVators designs, manufactures and markets endoscope disinfection equipment and supplies medical waste disposal systems....

Heraeus Surgical, Inc. (exclusive licensing agreement with CVAC Inc.)
January 1, 1996... Heraeus Surgical, Inc., Milpitas, Calif., and Minneapolis-based CVAC. Inc. have agreed on an exclusive licensing arrangement in which Heraeus Surgical will exclusively manufacture. use and sell CVAC's Centralized Airborne Evacuation System...

United States Surgical Corp. (minimally invasive breast biopsy system)
January 1, 1996... United States Surgical Corp., Norwalk, Conn., introduced a minimally invasive breast biopsy system at the recent meeting of the American College of Surgeons in New Orleans. The system, known as the Advanced Breast Biopsy Instrument (ABBI[TM])...

Image Diagnostic Systems Inc. (introduction of CTLM ultrafast laser mammography device)
January 1, 1996... Image Diagnostic Systems, Inc., Sunrise, Fla., took an unusual tact when it unveiled its new CTLM ultra-fast laser mammography device. Company CEO Richard Grable appeared on a Donahue show segment that aired on Nov.20 to discuss the CTLM, which...

Outcomes analysis can win over tough audiences.
January 1, 1996... The medical device industry isn't usually thought of as a high-fashion business. It's a long way from orthopedic implants and intra-aortic balloons to Bill Blass and Calvin Klein. Even so, the medical device industry has its own...

Wright Medical Technology Inc. (Richard D. Nikolaev chosen as president and CEO)
January 1, 1996... Wright Medical Technology, Inc.: Richard D. Nikolaev was elected president and CEO of this Arlington, Tenn.-based manufacturer of orthopedic products and instrumentation. Nikolaev has had more than 30 years of experience in the orthopedic...

Baxter International. (retirement of William B. Graham as senior chairman)
January 1, 1996... Baxter International: William B. Graham retired as senior chairman and resigned from the board of directors of this Deerfield, Ill.-based medical supply corporation. Lester B. Knight and Harry M. Jansen Kraemer Jr. were named to the board....

Medline Industries Inc. (Susan Hall named president of Medcrest Cubicle/Draper Division)
January 1, 1996... Medline Industries, Inc.: Susan Hall was named president of the Medcrest[R] Cubicle/Drapery Division of this Mundelein, Ill.-based manufacturer and distributor of health care supplies and textile products. The Medcrest division provides health...

Medtronic, Inc. (promotion of Robert H. Kayser to vice-president)
January 1, 1996... Medtronic, Inc: Robert H. Kayser was promoted to vice president, pacing, Europe, for this Minneapolis-based medical technology manufacturer. He will be responsible for the overall leadership of pacemaker marketing in Europe and for assisting...

HIDA. (Cara C. Bachenheimer named director of government relations for Health Industry Distributors Association)
January 1, 1996... HIDA: Cara C. Bachenheimer, director of government relations for the Health industry Distributors Assn., was named executive director of HIDA's Home Health Care and Long-Term Care Market Groups. She succeeds Craig Jeffries, who has joined...

Behring Diagnostics. (Rudi Steinmann named head of global sales and marketing)
January 1, 1996... Behring Diagnostics: Rudi Steinmann was appointed head of worldwide sales and marketing for global operations by this Frankfurt, Germany-based immunodiagnostics company. He joins Behring after spending the past 17 years at Abbott Laboratories,...

Rusch International. (promotion of Frank Sodha to president)
January 1, 1996... Rusch International: Frank Sodha was promoted to president of this Duluth, Gal-based manufacturer of urological and anesthesia medical devices, where he will be responsible for all global operations. Sodha, who joined the company three years ago,...

B&G Equipment Co. (John Jefferson Dykstra named director for cleaning and maintenance division)
January 1, 1996... B&G Equipment Co.: John Jefferson Dykstra was named director for the cleaning and maintenance division of this Plumsteadville, Pa.-based manufacturer of sprayers and spraying equipment for pesticides and other chemicals. Dykstra will head up all...

Varian Associates, Inc. (David A. Berkowitz appointed national accounts manager)
January 1, 1996... Varian Associates, Inc.: David A. Berkowitz was named national accounts manager for this Palo Alto, Calif.-based medical accelerator manufacturer. He previously served as vice president of the health systems group at ECRI, Plymouth Meeting, Pa....

Imagyn Medical, Inc. (Chris Bova named vice president of sales)
January 1, 1996... Imagyn Medical, Inc.: Chris Bova joined this Laguna Niguel, Calif.-based manufacturer of minimally invasive devices for women's infertility and gynecological surgery as vice president of sales. Most recently, Boom served as director of sales,...

Owens & Minor Inc. (promotion of Larry Sapp to Denver division vice president)
January 1, 1996... Owens & Minor, Inc.: Larry Sapp was promoted to Denver division vice president for this Richmond, Va.-based medical-surgical supply distributor. He succeeds Virgil Alonzo, who resigned that position.