MILESTONES
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Rusckowski
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Royal Philips Electronics (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) plans to acquire Emergin Inc. (Boca Raton, FL), a provider of software used to transmit medical alarm signals throughout hospitals. Emergin will become part of the patient monitoring business unit within Philips Medical Systems (Andover, MA). "We're seeing the ratios of patients to medical staff on the rise, and our customers are looking for solutions that help them access the critical patient data that our monitors provide, quickly and flexibly throughout the hospital," says Steve Rusckowski, CEO of Philips Medical Systems. "Emergin's software provides that functionality, and will enhance the performance of our patient monitoring equipment, making it a good fit for this business."
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Balthrop
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Luminex Corp. (Austin, TX) and Mayo Clinic have signed a development licensing agreement that enables Mayo to provide genetic and other testing services to patients using Luminex's xMAP technology. The agreement contains collaboration and licensing provisions for the inherited disorder thalassemia and also provides opportunities for additional test content creation. "The Mayo Clinic has been a leader in the field of diagnostics for many years, paving the way to improve detection, monitoring, and treatment of many medical conditions," said Patrick J. Balthrop, president and chief executive officer of Luminex. "We are thrilled to collaborate with Mayo to develop new genetic testing services for thalassemia and look forward to supporting additional ways our xMAP technology can be used to enhance the diagnosis and treatment of patients with other conditions."
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Hickey
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Myocor Inc. (Maple Grove, MN) announced that FDA has granted conditional approval of the Valvular and Ventricular Improvement Via iCoapsys Delivery (VIVID) feasibility study. The single-arm feasibility study will evaluate the safety and feasibility of the percutaneously implanted iCoapsys system in treating patients with mitral valve insufficiency caused by left ventricular dysfunction and coronary artery disease. The iCoapsys device and implant procedure are based on the original, surgically implanted Coapsys system, which is currently being evaluated in the RESTOR-MV trial. Both devices are designed to reduce functional mitral regurgitation and reshape the left ventricle to provide a more complete reshaping therapy than traditional mitral valve repair. The development of the iCoapsys system will enable Myocor to provide physicians with both surgical and percutaneous options for their patients. "We have been very disciplined in bringing these devices through the design, manufacturing, and trial processes with an eye on long-term success," said Jim Hickey, Myocor CEO. "We have been fortunate to have the experience of implanting more than 120 Coapsys devices worldwide, the dedication of a talented group of employees and clinicians who believe in our therapy, and the backing of a strong investor group."
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Douat
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Arterial Remodeling Technologies (ART; Paris) has closed on a new venture financing round of $7.8 million from investors Matignon Technologies and SGAM Alternative Investments. Proceeds will be used to pursue CE mark clearance for the company's first product, a bioresorbable stent that dismantles in vivo over an optimized time period. "Given the explosive growth and fast adoption rates exhibited by the coated stent market, now in disarray, the bioresorbable coronary stent market presents a compelling opportunity to participate in a potentially disruptive, market-changing technology," said Christophe Douat, a partner with Matignon Technologies and an ART board member. ART's technology is based on intellectual property originating from the Cleveland Clinic (Cleveland), the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (Montpellier, France), and Necker University (Paris). To date, ART has raised $14.2 million in venture capital.
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Sanford
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Imalux Corp. (Cleveland), developer of the Niris imaging system based on optical coherence tomography technology, has received a fast-track research grant from the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health. The award of up to $2.3 million is to fund Imalux's accelerated development of video-rate optical coherence tomography for early stage cancer visualization. "The new funding, combined with our recent successful equity financing, will enable Imalux to accelerate our planned product development activities," said Bill R. Sanford, Imalux chairman and CEO. "Although our current system has great clinical utility, the image acquisition rate is designed for single-point imaging. The objective of the fast-track project is to expand the Niris capability to acquire optical coherence tomography images at a video rate without compromising image quality."
Inverness Medical Innovations (Waltham, MA) has entered into an agreement to acquire Alere Medical Inc. (Reno, NV), a provider of health and care management services, for $302 million. Alere's 2007 revenues are expected to approximate $77 million. "Alere's expertise in patient monitoring, and particularly in home chronic-heart-failure management, complements our cardiac diagnostic technologies being developed at Biosite in San Diego and at Stirling Medical in Scotland," said Ron Zwanziger, CEO of Inverness. "In addition, Alere brings with it exceptional management, a solid business platform, and strong revenues and profitability, and is consistent with our overall acquisition strategy."
Cleveland Clinic (Cleveland) announced the formation of Clear Catheter Solutions LLC (CCS) to develop systems to improve postsurgical wound drainage. Cleveland Clinic is collaborating with Medical Device Innovations LLC (Bend, OR) to continue developing CCS's portfolio of tube drainage products and technologies. CCS will make use of intellectual property from both entities in developing its devices.
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Bendett
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Aculight Corp. (Bothell, WA) has been awarded a new contract under the Small Business Innovation Research program of the National Institutes of Health. The $750,000 award is funding a joint effort with Northwestern University (Evanston, IL) to develop an optical cochlear implant. "We're laying the foundation for a laser-based cochlear implant that provides users with dramatically improved fidelity over current electrical implants," said Mark Bendett, Aculight's director of medical products. "This Phase II will enable Aculight to produce an optical cochlear implant that can be used in research studies at Northwestern University prior to developing a model for clinical applications."
