Health Industry Today articles from November 1995

Health Industry Today archives from November 1995

Stents lead huge boom in interventional coronary products.
November 1, 1995... Seldom has a medical device so tiny had such a giant impact on hospitals as has the half-inch-long coronary stent. Virtually unheard of outside cath lab conferences and rarely read about outside FDA fine print, the stent has enjoyed a...

Industry's heavy-hitters mull key issues at NCI Executive Forum. (health care industry)
November 1, 1995... With 125 high-ranking executives on hand representing a cross-section of the entire hospital supply chain -- from manufacturers to distributors to group purchasing organizations to providers -- it's safe to say that the 1995 Health Care...

Inside the Premier, AmHS manufacturer partner round table. (Premier Health Alliance Inc.; American Healthcare Systems)
November 1, 1995... As Premier Health Alliance, Westchester, Ill., and San Diego-based American Healthcare Systems proceed down the aisle together, plans for what they hope will be a long-term marriage are being formulated. On Oct. 3, the soon-to-merge groups...

Boston Scientific sustains buying binge, acquires two more companies. (Boston Scientific Corp.)
November 1, 1995... Boston Scientific Corp., Natick, Mass., continued on its 1995 acquisition spree with the signing of a definitive agreement to merge with Meadox Medicals, Inc., Oakland, N.J., in a stock transaction valued at approximately $425 million. The...

Kodak "simplifies" into four regions. (Eastman Kodak Co.)
November 1, 1995... In order to stay closer to its customers and "simplify its business practices," Eastman Kodak Co., Rochester, N.Y., announced the formation of four geographical regions in the U.S.: Atlanta (Southeast); Chicago (Central); Windsor, Colo....

Baxter, Ohmeda in "seamless" anesthesia product marketing deal. (Baxter Healthcare Corp.)
November 1, 1995... With an eye toward offering customers efficiencies through product standardization while forming the increasingly popular "one-stop shop," Baxter Healthcare Corp., McGaw Park, Ill., and the pharmaceutical products division of Ohmeda, Liberty...

$3.25 billion merger gives rise to IVAX-Nycomed.
November 1, 1995... The latest wave of merger mania has hit two large pharmaceutical manufacturers. This time, Miami-based IVAX Corp., and the Norwegian corporation Hafslund Nycomed say they will merge in a deal valued at approximately $3.25 billion. The new...

Smith & Nephew Endoscopy acquires Australian ACL technology. (anterior cruciate ligament)
November 1, 1995... Smith & Nephew Endoscopy, Andover, Mass., expects to expand its market share with the acquisition of new technology for surgically reconstructing an anterior cruciate ligament. The company paid Hip Developments Pty Ltd. and Knee Developments...

No Band-Aid solution: Coloplast Sween revamps sales philosophy.
November 1, 1995... A restructuring of the sales and distribution process for the Coloplast Corp., Marietta, Ga., will result in an expansion of the product lines offered and changes in size of the company's sales force. Earlier this year, Coloplast, a major...

Baxter opens Chinese plant. (Baxter Healthcare Corp.)
November 1, 1995... Baxter Healthcare Corp., Deerfield, Ill., last month opened its first manufacturing facility in China, a major step in the company's expansion in the Pacific Rim. The 35,000sf plant in the southern province of Guangzhou employs approximately...

Fuji continues to boost CR, adds alliances with Picker, Siemens. (Fuji Medical Systems USA Inc.; Picker International Inc.; Siemens Medical Systems Inc.)
November 1, 1995... Fuji Medical Systems USA, Inc., Stamford, Conn., has continued on its fast pace in promoting its expertise in computed radiography (CR) equipment by signing open-ended sales alliances with two major medical imaging companies: Cleveland-based...

End-users supply design input for IVAC's new Signature Edition infusion pump. (IVAC Corp.)
November 1, 1995... IVAC Corp. went directly to the end-user for feedback before completing the design of its new infusion pump and will be highlighting that simple, but common sense idea in marketing its new pump to those clinicians. The San Diego-based...

Quick FDA clearance puts Biosys' new test strip on fast track. (Biosys Laboratories Inc.)
November 1, 1995... Biosys Laboratories, Inc., was the beneficiary of an unusually rapid FDA 510(k) clearance for its newest urine test strip and now the Los Angeles-based company has placed the new Bio-Gen 10SGL alongside its other test strip products in a...

U.S. Surgical buys 3M's internal stapling product line. (United States Surgical Corp.)
November 1, 1995... United States Surgical Corp. took a step that served to highlight consolidation in the laparoscopic product segment when it acquired the assets of the internal stapling business of Minneapolis-based 3M for an undisclosed price. The move by...

Owens & Minor, Inc. (distribution contract)
November 1, 1995... Owens & Minor, Inc., Richmond, Va., and 475-bed University of Nebraska Medical Center, have agreed on a five-year stockless distribution contract scheduled to begin Jan. 1, 1996. The agreement carries an estimated value of between $7 million...

Exogen Inc. (contract)
November 1, 1995... Exogen Inc., Piscataway, N.J., signed a four-year agreement with Kaiser Permanente Northern California for the use of its SAFHS [R] (Sonic Accelerated Fracture Healing System), a non-invasive device that employs low-intensity, pulsed...

Wallace Computer Services, Inc. (contract)
November 1, 1995... Wallace Computer Services, Inc., Hillside, Ill., signed an agreement with Foundation Health Corp., Rancho Cordova, Calif., for information management products, including forms, forms management and computer supplies. Under the deal, Wallace...

Abbott Laboratories. (contract)
November 1, 1995... Abbott Laboratories, Abbott Park, Ill., signed a five-year supply agreement with St. Joseph's Regional Health System, Stockton, Calif., that covers I.V. solutions and systems for electronic drug delivery, pharmacy compounding and infection...

Custom tray producer Sterile Concepts acquires MDC, a competitor. (Sterile Concepts Holdings Inc.; Medical Design Concepts Inc.)
November 1, 1995... Following through on a promise made earlier this year that an acquisition was in the works, Sterile Concepts Holdings, Inc., Richmond, Va., acquired custom procedure tray (CPT) maker Medical Design Concepts, Inc., Temecula, Calif. In July,...

Picker acquires nuclear cardiology concern. (Picker International Inc.)
November 1, 1995... Picker International, Cleveland, has acquired Scinticor, a Milwaukee-based nuclear cardiology company and the world's only producer of multicrystal gamma cameras for the noninvasive, low-cost medical stress first-pass cardiac imaging...

HIDA '95 takes on perplexing industry issues. (Health Industry Distributors Association)
November 1, 1995... Distributors of medical-surgical supplies, who by definition live in the middle of the supply chain anyway, seem to be trapped by the powerful forces of cost reduction and cost containment. They're being pulled by these forces from both of...

GPOs could go distribution channel-surfing for supply options. (group purchasing organizations)
November 1, 1995... Ironically, it appears that med-surg distributors may owe a something of a debt to Johnson & Johnson for reducing their prompt payment discount. The New Brunswick, N.J.-based supplier giant cut the discount by 0.5% earlier this year, to...

Abtox Inc. (court case)
November 1, 1995... Abtox Inc., Mundelein, Ill., was awarded a summary judgment against MDT Corp., Rochester, N.Y., stating that its Plazlyte[TM] Sterilization System does not infringe two patents licensed by MDT from Adir Jacob. A U.S. District Court judge in...

Becton Dickinson & Co. (contract)
November 1, 1995... Becton Dickinson & Co., Franklin Lakes, N.J., and GATX Logistics, Inc., Chicago, have renewed their contract to provide Southeastern distribution support services for a wide variety of medical supplies and surgical instruments. Since 1983,...

MarkCare Medical Systems, Inc. (contract)
November 1, 1995... MarkCare Medical Systems, Inc., Maywood, N.J., received a purchase agreement for its IntraScan II system from Baptist Hospital of Southwest Texas, Beaumont, Texas. MarkCare says the deal makes Baptist the first private hospital to acquire a...

St. Jude Medical, Inc. (new manufacturing facility)
November 1, 1995... St. Jude Medical, Inc., St. Paul, Minn., will construct a new manufacturing facility in Phoenix for its Pacesetter cardiac rhythm management business. The company will also relocate Pacesetter's present European manufacturing operation to a...

Universal HealthWatch Inc. (contract)
November 1, 1995... Universal HealthWatch Inc., Columbia, Md., a management company, has secured a one-year, $12 million guaranteed contract with a four-year renewal option with the Russian Federation for a variety of medical technology programs, including one...

OsteoBiologics, Inc. (license agreement)
November 1, 1995... OsteoBiologics, Inc., San Antonio, Texas, and Baltimore-based U.S. Biomaterials Corp. have signed a license agreement that will combine the two device companies' core technologies to provide bioactive materials for reconstructive surgery and...

Pyxis Corp. (new product)
November 1, 1995... Pyxis Corp., San Diego, has introduced a new automated drug dispensing and inventory control system designed for the private-practice oncologist market. The system, known as OPUS (OnCare Practice Utilization System), generates transaction...

Summit Technology eyes big profits following excimer laser approval. (Summit Technology Inc.)
November 1, 1995... Summit Technology Inc. received its long-awaited FDA clearance for its excimer laser system that will likely revolutionize the treatment of nearsightedness and lead to giant profits for the Waltham, Mass.-based manufacturer. Up to a...

Diametrics Medical, Inc. (distribution)
November 1, 1995... Diametrics Medical, Inc., St. Paul, Minn., has begun limited shipments of its IRMA[R] blood gas analysis cartridge under a distribution agreement just signed with Infiniti Medical AB, Stockholm, Sweden. Infiniti serves hospitals in Sweden,...

Cordis Endovascular Systems Inc. (patent suit)
November 1, 1995... Cordis Endovascular Systems Inc., Miami, a subsidiary of the Cordis Corp., also based in Miami, filed a patent infringement suit against Target Therapeutics Inc., Fremont, Calif. The suit alleges that Target violates Cordis patents on its...

Bracco Diagnostics Inc. (labeling)
November 1, 1995... Bracco Diagnostics Inc., Princeton, N.J., will change the labeling on all of its products to feature the company's name. Bracco contrast agent products have carried the Squibb Diagnostics name on their labels since Bracco's acquisition of...

Lifeline BioTechnologies, Inc. (product testing)
November 1, 1995... Lifeline BioTechnologies, Inc., Dayton, Ohio, completed plans to open its first hospital clinical site to evaluate its breast cancer detection system in a non-academic environment. The evaluations will involve the company's non-invasive...

Coherent, Inc. (acquisition)
November 1, 1995... Coherent, Inc., Santa Clara, Calif., completed its acquisition of the $3 million diode laser operation (exclusive of the laser aimer line) of Applied Laser Systems (ALS), Medford, Ore. The transaction is valued at approximately $1 million....

IVAX Corp. (acquisition)
November 1, 1995... IVAX Corp., Miami, acquired Pharmatop, Ltd., a company that for the past three years has been in the business of marketing and distributing in Poland a range of products manufactured by IVAX's British subsidiary, Norton Healthcare, Ltd. The...

McGaw, Inc. (contract)
November 1, 1995... McGaw, Inc., Irvine, Calif., and Alphamed, Inc., Norcross, Ga., have reached agreement on a deal under which McGaw will market Alphamed's ambulatory infusion pump and related disposables. The pump is a five-function device that McGaw will...

Big distributors opt to pass through J&J's cut in prompt payment discount. (Johnson and Johnson)
November 1, 1995... Several distributors of medical-surgical supplies apparently have decided to take a cue from Johnson & Johnson and pass on to their hospital customers the added cost brought on by J&J's recent 0.5% cut in distributors' prompt payment...

Schein restructures medical division. (Henry Schein Inc.)
November 1, 1995... Henry Schein Inc. is responding to changes in the decision-making process applied to medical supplies by restructuring the medical division of the Melville, N.Y.-based company into three groups. The corporate accounts sales group is...

Fledgling med-surg distributor off to fast start in Utah. (MedStop Inc.)
November 1, 1995... Only eight months old, a medical supplies distribution company has quickly put its imprint on the Salt Lake City region by serving long-term care facilities and the home health care market. MedStop, Inc., Murray, Utah, completed its first...

Pace of new stockless signings slows to a crawl. (medical supplies distributors)
November 1, 1995... General Medical Corp., Richmond, Va., was the only medical-surgical distributor to sign a new stockless agreement during the third quarter 1995. G.M. added eight new contracts for its Optima I and II programs but lost one during the...

Death of a (commissioned) salesman. (medical supplies industry; compensation)
November 1, 1995... Owens & Minor, Inc. is just one of many large hospital suppliers that is grappling with sales rep compensation questions. As more and more hospitals face cost reduction mandates, more Owens' customers are demanding to work with reps who are...

Medex Inc. (executive appointment)
November 1, 1995... Medex Inc.: Bradley P. Gould was named CEO of this Hilliard, Ohio-based manufacturer of critical care and infusion products. He succeeds Phillip Messinger, the company's chief executive since March 1993. Gould previously served as senior...

Liquid Carbonic Industries Corp. (executive appointment)
November 1, 1995... Liquid Carbonic Industries Corp.: Calvin E. Willoughby was named president and CEO for this Oak Brook, Ill.-based manufacturer and distributor of industrial and medical specialty gases and related equipment. Previously, Willoughby served as...

Medical Sterilization, Inc. (executive appointment)
November 1, 1995... Medical Sterilization, Inc.: D. Michael Deignan was appointed president and COO of this Syosset, N.Y.-based lessor of standardized surgical procedure sets and basins for operating rooms. Deignan, who most recently served as chief executive...

National Assn. for Medical Equipment Services. (executive appointment)
November 1, 1995... National Assn. for Medical Equipment Services (NAMES): William D. Coughlan was appointed president and CEO of the home medical services trade group.