Medical Device Link.

Originally Published MX March/April 2005

MILESTONES

Integra LifeSciences Holdings Corp. (Plainsboro, NJ), a manufacturer of medical and surgical devices, announced that it has purchased the Newdeal group of companies (Lyon, France) for approximately $53 million in cash. Newdeal, which develops implants and instruments for foot and ankle surgery, distributes its products in over 30 countries. "We will supplement our direct sales force in Europe and increase revenues outside the United States," said Integra president and CEO Stuart M. Essig. "We also expect to benefit from the synergy between Newdeal's reconstructive foot and ankle fixation products and our regenerative products." Under the terms of the deal, the companies will retain their names.

Hemostatic solutions developer Z-Medica Corp. (Wallingford, CT) has moved its administrative and customer service offices from Newington, CT, to Wallingford. The move is billed by the company as part of a broad expansion plan. Z-Medica previously shared space at the headquarters of its sister company, On Site Gas Systems, a producer of nitrogen and oxygen generators. Z-Medica's manufacturing services will remain in their present location.

Weiner

Biophan Technologies Inc. (Rochester, NY) has acquired and begun the integration of Amris GmbH (Castrop-Rauxel, Germany), a manufacturer of MRI-safe and image-compatible technology and biomedical devices. "The acquisition will provide an important boost to our marketing capabilities, particularly in Europe, where major manufacturers of MRI machines and biomedical devices are based and where much of the leading research in MRI-guided interventional medicine is currently being conducted," said Biophan CEO Michael Weiner. Amris will be renamed Biophan Europe and will be led by current Amris president Michael Friebe, PhD. Andreas Melzer, MD, Amris's scientific director and chief technology officer, will join the Biophan scientific advisory board.

Bender

Following clearance from the Federal Trade Commission, Cooper Companies Inc. (Lake Forest, CA) closed its merger with Ocular Sciences Inc. (Concord, CA) in January. Cooper, whose CooperVision unit was previously the world's fourth-largest contact lens manufacturer, paid approximately $600 million in cash and issued 10.7 million shares of common stock to Ocular Sciences stockholders. With the acquisition, CooperVision becomes the third-largest contact lens producer. "Ocular brings geographic and product line balance and manufacturing technology to our CooperVision business unit," said Cooper CEO A. Thomas Bender. Ocular Sciences founder and chairman John Fruth will serve on Cooper's board of directors.

HyperBranch Medical Technology Inc. (Research Triangle Park, NC) has raised $6 million in first-round financing. Proceeds from the Series A investment, which was led by Aurora Funds (Durham, NC), will be used to support the preclinical and clinical development of HyperBranch's lead products—DendriLens, an injectable synthetic lens used in cataract surgery, and Ocuseal, an ophthalmic wound sealant. HyperBranch, which develops medical devices for ocular surgery, was founded in 2003.

Séguin

The German government has given the go-ahead to CoreValveSA (Paris) to conduct clinical trials of its ReValving System to replace diseased aortic heart valves. The trial will involve 10 patients who are not able to undergo open-heart surgery. "While CoreValve's strategy is to concentrate on the heart of the market—that is, traditional surgical candidates for aortic valve replacement—we also will be sensitive to cardiologists' appeals to treat the high surgical risk cases, a definitive subsegment of the percutaneous aortic valve replacement market, which we expect will ultimately fast-forward physicians' adoption of ReValving," said CoreValve chairman and CEO Jacques Séguin, MD, PhD.

The Axxess Plus stent from Devax Inc. (click to enlarge)

Devax Inc. (Irvine, CA) has completed a clinical study of its Axxess Plus, a stent system that elutes an antirestenonic drug and is used for treating bifurcation lesions. The trial includes 138 patients who were treated between July and December 2004. A six-month angiographic follow-up is scheduled to be completed in June 2005. According to Devax, some 1 million percutaneous coronary interventions were performed in the United States in 2004. Of these, approximately 15–20% involved lesions at a bifurcation.

Copyright ©2005 MX