Health Industry Today articles from July 1997

Health Industry Today archives from July 1997

Teleradiology market growth linked to managed care demands.
July 1, 1997... The concept of telemedicine appears to be as close to a perfect match for today's cost-conscious managed care-driven market as there is in medicine today. From either a close-in perspective or an aerial view, telemedicine seems to have all the...

J&J exec: keeping focus on total cost, not price, breeds contracting success. (Johnson & Johnson)
July 1, 1997... Success in negotiating purchasing contracts in today's managed care-driven market can be achieved not necessarily by being the cheapest competitor on the block. Instead, a greater measure of success is more likely to be found by shifting the...

Applied Medical buoyed by verdict over U.S. Surgical in patent dispute. (Applied Medical Resources Corp.; U.S. Surgical Corp.)
July 1, 1997... Shaking off the stigma of small market share, Applied Medical Resources Corp. is pushing full bore into the hospital market to sell its lines of laparoscopic surgical devices in the wake of a favorable April 29 ruling in its patent infringement...

Roche weighs options after buying DePuy's controlling parent company. (Roche Holding Ltd.; DePuy Inc.)
July 1, 1997... Will orthopedics manufacturer DePuy Inc. find itself under Swiss ownership or under the control of a mystery buyer that has yet to surface? Those are the types of questions being sorted out at DePuy's Warsaw, Ind. corporate offices and among...

St. Jude sells Asia-Pacific Medtel unit.
July 1, 1997... Medtel, the Asia-Pacific medical products distributor purchased by St. Jude Medical in October 1996 as one of its multiple, single-day acquisitions, will be sold to a San Francisco-based company during the third quarter. St. Paul, Minn.-based...

Premier Purchasing adds five execs, readies capital equipment unit. (Premier Purchasing Partners)
July 1, 1997... Super group Premier Inc. has announced the names of five new people just added to the executive ranks of its Premier Purchasing Partners group purchasing arm. The top name is James M. "Jim" Garvey, who has taken over as chief operating officer of...

Mask-maker TECNOL begins offering new floor suction mat. (TECNOL Medical Products Inc.)
July 1, 1997... TECNOL Medical Products will parlay its network of contacts in hospitals that the company has established through sales of its popular mask line as it offers its latest products, the FluidControl[TM] Floor Suction Mat. The Fort Worth, Texas-based...

Small arms race: OEC Medical launches latest upgrade, dual mode MINI C-arm. (OEC Medical Systems Inc.)
July 1, 1997... With the big companies apparently content to cast their lot on technology used in larger, more costly products, smaller manufacturers like OEC Medical Systems Inc. are finding a solid niche with the development and sales in the small C-arm...

U.S. Surgical inks accords with three major buying groups. (U.S. Surgical Corp.)
July 1, 1997... United States Surgical Corp., Norwalk, Conn., signed five-year agreements for its stapling, laparoscopic and suture products with St. Louis-based AmeriNet and Health Services Corp. of America, Cape Girardeau, Mo. The agreement with AmeriNet,...

DuPont/TIDI alliance yields first product: VENTURE nonwoven sponge.
July 1, 1997... Alternate site facilities such as physicians offices will be the target for early sales of the VENTURE[TM], a new nonwoven sponge arising from an alliance between DuPont Nonwovens, Old Hickory, Tenn., and TIDI Products Inc., Troy, Mich. Once a...

J&J's acquisition of breast biopsy equipment maker termed 'a perfect fit.' (Johnson & Johnson; Biopsys Medical Inc.)
July 1, 1997... Johnson & Johnson underscored and strengthened its stake in women's health care when the company agreed to a $310 million stock-for-stock merger with Irvine, Calif.-based Biopsys Medical Inc. last month. Biopsys Medical is a producer of products...

Storz Instrument Co.(Contracts)
July 1, 1997... Storz Instrument Co., St. Louis, and VHA Inc., Irving, Texas, signed a three-year renewal of their agreement for reusable microsurgical instruments. The contract, which also includes provisions for repair, covers instruments used in ear, nose and...

MediSense Inc.(Contracts)
July 1, 1997... MediSense Inc., Bedford, Mass., signed a five-year, sole-source agreement with VHA Inc., Irving, Texas, last month that covers the Precision G[TM] blood glucose monitoring system and MICROFLO test strips and related products. MediSense is a...

Medical Resources Management Inc.(Contracts)
July 1, 1997... Medical Resources Management Inc., Glendale, Calif., signed an agreement for medical equipment rental with long-term care provider Beverly Enterprises Inc., Fort Smith, Ark.

Integrated Surgical Systems Inc.(Contracts)
July 1, 1997... Integrated Surgical Systems Inc., Sacramento, Calif., has sold one of its ROBODOC[R] Surgical Assistant systems to the University of Innsbruck in Innsbruck, Austria. The installation, which was expected to be complete in May, becomes the seventh...

Varian Associates Inc.(Contracts)
July 1, 1997... Varian Associates Inc., Palo Alto, Calif., was awarded a contract to supply the equipment for a new radiation oncology center being established at the University of Malaya's Medical School in Kuala Lumpur. The deal covers medical linear...

Bioject Medical Technologies Inc.(Contracts)
July 1, 1997... Bioject Medical Technologies Inc., Portland, signed an agreement to offer flu vaccines to consumers at approximately 400 Wal-Mart stores nationwide. The vaccines will be injected using Bioject's Biojector[R] 2000 needle-free injection system as...

Abbott Diagnostics.(Contracts)
July 1, 1997... Abbott Diagnostics, Abbott Park, Ill., signed a two-year contract with VHA Inc., Irving, Texas, for immunochemistry equipment and related supplies. The deal covers Abbott's AxSYM Immunochemistry System, LCx products and the annual service...

Thermo Cardiosystems Inc.(Contracts)
July 1, 1997... Thermo Cardiosystems Inc., Woburn, Mass., has acquired International Technidyne Corp., Edison, N.J., a subsidiary of Thermo Electron Corp., Waltham, Mass., for approximately 3.35 million shares of stock. International Technidyne is a manufacturer...

The St. John Companies Inc.(Contracts)
July 1, 1997... The St. John Companies Inc., Valencia, Calif., signed a new contract with U.S. Diagnostic Inc., West Palm Beach Fla., that makes it the primary vendor to all 160 U.S. Diagnostic facilities for labels, x-ray envelopes and other consumable medical...

America Service Group Inc.(Contracts)
July 1, 1997... America Service Group Inc., Nashville, Tenn., has signed an agreement with the Aligned Business Consortium, the purchasing affiliate of Nashville-based Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp., that gives ASG access to purchasing contracts for medical...

Medical Action Industries Inc.(Contracts)
July 1, 1997... Medical Action Industries Inc., Hauppauge, N.Y., signed two new, three-year agreements with Allegiance Healthcare Corp., McGaw Park, Ill. The contracts, valued at approximately $26 million, including about $12.5 million in new business, designate...

VisX Inc.(Contracts)
July 1, 1997... VisX Inc., Santa Clara, Calif., signed a contract to provide its excimer laser systems for vision correction to the U.S. Dept. of Veteran Affairs. Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio will purchase one of the lasers for use in a clinica study...

Smith Industries Inc.(Contracts)
July 1, 1997... Smith Industries Inc., Keene, N.H., signed a 42-month agreement with VHA Inc., Irving, Texas, for anesthesia products produced under the group's VHA PLUS[R] private label. The contract, which gives price protection to VHA members through Dec. 31,...

Marketers face challenges in today's diagnostics industry.
July 1, 1997... It's no secret that the urge to merge has finally hit the diagnostics industry. The $11 billion acquisition of Corange by Roche and the marriage of Dade and Behring are only the most noticeable announcements of the past spring. In many ways,...

Cook Inc. (new endovascular unit)
July 1, 1997... Cook Inc., Bloomington, Ind., says it has created a new endovascular unit designed to market core Cook technologies and products to clinicians in endovascular therapies, vascular surgery and neurosurgery. The unit known as Cook Endovascular[TM]...

Medtronic Inc. (license and technology transfer agreement)
July 1, 1997... Medtronic Inc., Minneapolis, and Biotronik GmbH & Co., Berlin, Germany say they have settled disputes surrounding their patent and trademarks over pacemakers and defibrillators. The companies agreed to a one-year stay of all litigation in U.S....

Encore Orthopedics Inc. (development/marketing deal)
July 1, 1997... Encore Orthopedics Inc., Austin, Texas, signed a 15-year development and marketing agreement with Pro-LFIC, LLC, that focuses on a total hip replacement device. The deal makes Encore Orthopedics, a subsidiary of Encore Medical Corp., the...

Medical Device Technologies Inc. (letter of intent; distribution)
July 1, 1997... Medical Device Technologies Inc., San Diego, signed a letter of intent to distribute its Fluid Alarm System[TM] (FAS) through Sulzer Orthopedics Ltd. of Switzerland. The agreement says that Sulzer will sell a minimum of 7,500 FAS glove monitors...

AccuMed International Inc. (contract)
July 1, 1997... AccuMed International Inc., Chicago, signed a contract with Leica Microscopy and Systems GmbH, Wetzlar, Germany, for international distribution outside the Western Hemisphere of the AcCell[TM] Cytopathology system. Sales were expected to begin in...

Siemens Medical Systems Inc. (sales partnership)
July 1, 1997... Siemens Medical Systems Inc., Iselin, N.J., and EDAP Technomed have formed a sales partnership under which Siemens will provide nationwide sales support of EDAP Technomed's Prostatron unit. That product is said to be the first microwave device...

Kimberly-Clark Professional Health Care. (1996 Acute Care Vendor of the Year)
July 1, 1997... Kimberly-Clark Professional Health Care, Roswell, Ga., was named 1996 Acute Care Vendor of the Year by General Medical Corp., Richmond, Va., in a vote of approximately 900 General Medical account managers. Kimberly-Clark, which became a "prime...

Cardiometrics Inc. (co-distribution agreement)
July 1, 1997... Cardiometrics Inc., Mountain View, Calif., signed a co-distribution agreement with Cordis Corp., Warren, N.J., for Cardiometrics' proprietary line of functional testing products, including the FloWire[R] Doppler guide wire. The agreement also...

United States Surgical Corp. (rights acquisition)
July 1, 1997... United States Surgical Corp., Norwalk, Conn., will acquire the rights for a covered stent used in aneurysm repair from EndoTex Interventional Systems Inc., Menlo Park, Calif. Clinical trials for the stent are expected to begin during the third...

Eastman Kodak Co. (acquisition)
July 1, 1997... Eastman Kodak Co., Rochester, N.Y., has completed its acquisition of the Nova MicroSonics division of Advanced Technology Laboratories Inc., Bothell, Wash. The deal for Allendale, N.J.-based Nova MicroSonics had been announced April 30. Nova...

Hardwood Products Co. LP. (newly-acquired products)
July 1, 1997... Hardwood Products Co. LP, Guilford, Maine, has expanded its product line with the acquisition of a complementary line of medical specimen collection swabs from Spectrum Laboratories Inc., Laguna Hills, Calif. Hardwood Products is a manufacturer...

Midmark Corp. (acquisition)
July 1, 1997... Midmark Corp., Versailles, Ohio, has expanded its presence in the dental segment and formed a one-stop shop for dentists by acquiring Knight Manufacturing Inc., Asheville, N.C., a manufacturer of dental equipment such as patient chairs, delivery...

DeRoyal Industries Inc. (acquisition)
July 1, 1997... DeRoyal Industries Inc., Powell, Tenn., has acquired Tulsa, Okla.-based Carapace Inc., a manufacturer of casting, splinting and bracing products. DeRoyal will provide operational support for Carapace and has become the exclusive primary...

VWR Scientific Products Corp. (contracts)
July 1, 1997... VWR Scientific Products Corp., West Chester, Pa., and Chicago-based W.W. Grainger Inc. have signed a pair of strategic partnerships designed to lower customer costs and increase business. In the first agreement, customers who have retained...

Suburban Ostomy Supply Co. (acquisition)
July 1, 1997... Suburban Ostomy Supply Co., Holliston, Mass., completed its $8 million acquisition of Peiser's Medical Supplies and Services, a home health medical supply distributor based in Chicago. Peiser's, which had revenue of approximately $17 million in...

Thermo Cardiosystems Inc. (acquisition)
July 1, 1997... Thermo Cardiosystems Inc., Woburn, Mass., reports it received its largest order to date when the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi placed a $1 million order for all components of the HeartMate[R] implementation program. The order...

Avid Medical Inc. (newly-formed company)
July 1, 1997... Avid Medical Inc., Williamsburg, Va., has been formed to manufacture, market and sell devices and kits for less-invasive procedures in the cardiovascular and peripheral catheter laboratories and pain clinics. Michael Sahady, founder and former...

Medtronic Inc. (patent/trademark dispute)
July 1, 1997... Medtronic Inc., Minneapolis, completed a license and technology transfer agreement with Clarus Medical Systems Inc., that covers endoscope-supported surgery. The deal with Clarus, which is also based in Minneapolis, adds Clarus' fiber-optic...

COHR Inc. (acquisitions)
July 1, 1997... COHR Inc., Chatsworth, Calif., has acquired a pair of medical equipment service companies. Compass Medical Group, Apopka, Fla., specializes in shockwave lithotripters as well as mobile coaches and the diagnostic equipment they contain. Compass...

Nitinol Medical Technologies Inc. (investment)
July 1, 1997... Nitinol Medical Technologies Inc., Boston, has acquired 23% of privately held Image Technologies Corp., a company that is developing a line of advanced imaging products for minimally invasive surgery. Image Technologies will be located in leased...

Welch Allyn Inc. (distribution agreement)
July 1, 1997... Welch Allyn Inc., Skaneateles Falls, N.Y., has signed a three-year private label distribution agreement with Protocol Systems Inc., Beaverton, Ore., for the Welch Allyn LifeSign[TM] vital signs monitor, an entry level portable instrument that...

Angeion Corp. (licensing agreement)
July 1, 1997... Angeion Corp., Minneapolis, reports that its royalty-free, cross-licensing agreement with St. Jude Medical Inc., St. Paul, Minn., became effective May 19. Angeion says the $1 billion agreement, which it describes as the largest in the history of...

Imation Corp. (strategic alliance)
July 1, 1997... Imation Corp., Oakdale, Minn., will provide 40 Imation[TM] DryView[TM] 8300 laser imagers to ATL Ultrasound Inc., Bothell, Wash., under terms of a strategic alliance just signed between the two companies. The laser imagers will be used by ATL...

Varian Oncology Systems. (executive appointment)
July 1, 1997... Varian Oncology Systems: Michael Klein was named senior vice president of marketing and North American sales for this Palo Alto, Calif.-based medical equipment manufacturer. Klein joins Varian from Becton Dickinson, Franklin Lakes, N.J., where he...

Vital Images Inc. (executive appointments)
July 1, 1997... Vital Images Inc.: Jay D. Miller was named vice president of marketing and business development, and Gregory S. Furness was named vice president, finance and CFO for this St. Paul, Minn.-based manufacturer of medical visualization systems and...

Derma Sciences Inc. (executive appointments)
July 1, 1997... Derma Sciences Inc.: Richard S. Mink and Charles F. Caudell III joined this Old Forge, Pa.-based manufacturer of wound care products as vice president of marketing and vice president of sales, respectively. Mink spent 16 years with Becton...

Mallinckrodt Inc. (executive resignation)
July 1, 1997... Mallinckrodt Inc.: Robert G. Moussa resigned as president-international of this St. Louis-based medical chemical manufacturer effective June 30. Moussa joined Mallinckrodt in 1978 in England after nine years with Sherwood Medical. He will now...

Isolyser Co. Inc. (executive appointment)
July 1, 1997... Isolyser Co. Inc.: Dan R. Lee was appointed senior vice president, finance and administration and CFO for this Norcross, Ga.-based manufacturer of OREX[R] Degradables products. Lee spent the past eight years as CFO and COO for Microtek Medical...

Aspect Medical Systems Inc. (executive appointment)
July 1, 1997... Aspect Medical Systems Inc.: Steven Kane was appointed vice president of sales and field operations for this Natick, Mass.-based manufacturer of monitoring technologies. Kane joins Aspect Medical from Pyxis Corp., San Diego, where he served in...