C.R. Bard closes acquisition of  Specialized Health Products International
C. R. Bard Inc. (crbard.com) has closed the previously disclosed acquisition of the outstanding shares of Specialized Health Products International Inc.
Bard has already begun global marketing of the acquired line of vascular access products, including winged infusion sets.

Diomed to repay Hercules principal; Vascular Solutions settles with DioMed
Hercules Technology Growth Capital Inc., the specialty finance company providing venture debt and equity to venture capital and private equity backed technology and life science companies at all stages of development, will receive repayment of principal on the company’s debt financing to Diomed Holdings Inc. which has been in Chapter 11 reorganization since March.

In April, Diomed announced it has entered into a settlement agreement with AngioDynamics Inc. for the purpose of resolving the patent infringement lawsuit between the companies originally filed in January 2004. As a result of the settlement over varicose vein laser treatment technology, AngioDynamics agreed to pay $7 million to Diomed. Of the $7 million settlement proceeds, $6 million will be used to repay the outstanding loan principal balance to Hercules per a settlement order approved by the United States Court of Bankruptcy for the District of Massachusetts.

Additionally, Vascular Solutions Inc. also announced in April that it has entered into a separate settlement agreement with Diomed for the purpose of resolving the patent infringement lawsuit between the companies. Pursuant to the settlement agreement, all claims and appeals by each side will be dismissed following a one-time payment of $3.586 million from Vascular Solutions to Diomed.  

Luminetx  develops clinical ops unit
Luminetx Corp. has formed a clinical operations division at the company led by David Pennington. The group, known as clinical ops for short, provides ongoing clinical support and research-based information to Luminetx sales and marketing team members, as well as directly to the client base, as they market the VeinViewer technology.

The VeinViewer, Luminetx’s signature product, is a vascular imaging system that allows physicians, nurses and other health care professionals to clearly see accessible vasculature (or lack thereof) in real time. The device uses a combination of near-infrared light and patented technologies to image vascular structures and projects their location directly on the surface of the skin. This provides clinicians with a safe, non-invasive adjunct technology for clinical treatments and procedures including, but not limited to: IV insertions, PICC line insertions, routine veinipuncture (blood sampling), blood and plasma donations and treatment for varicose and spider veins.

Pennington, who spent several years as a critical care nurse and organ transplant coordinator, has been in clinical support and marketing roles in the last several years with other health care companies, including Venetec International and Cardiva Medical Inc. He holds a bachelor of science in biology, a bachelor of science in nursing and a master’s degree in business administration.

Endologix Powerlink System ntroduced in Japan during clinical trial
Endologix Inc. (endologix.com), the developer and manufacturer of the Powerlink System for the minimally invasive treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA), announced that the first two procedures with the company’s Powerlink System have been performed in Japan following receipt of Shonin approval.

Both procedures were performed at Osaka University Hospital in early April. The first case was a 73 year-old patient with an AAA complicated by a narrowing of the left common iliac artery, and the second case featured an anatomy that included a calcified stenosis of the aorta just above the aneurysm. Implantation of the Powerlink device took one hour in the first case and 40 minutes in the second case.

FDA approves Gore Revise Study
FDA approval to proceed with the Gore REVISE (Vascular Access Revision with Viabahn Endoprosthesis vs Percutaneous Transluminal Angioplasty) Study was announced in April by W. L. Gore & Associates (goremedical.com). The Gore REVISE Study is a randomized, multi-center clinical trial intended to establish efficacy and safety of the GORE VIABAHN Endoprosthesis with PROPATEN Bioactive Surface to revise arterio-venous grafts at the venous anastomosis in hemodialysis patients. The study will randomize patients to the GORE VIABAHN Endoprosthesis and to percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA).

The study is designed to demonstrate the clinical benefit of using a stent-graft for AV graft revisions, rather than PTA alone. With a focus on target-lesion primary patency, the study is designed to show an increased amount of time between interventions in dialysis access grafts.”

UCSF breaks ground on its new Cardiovascular Research Institute
The University of California at San Francisco has broken ground on its $254 million Cardiovascular Research Institute (CVRI), which will be finished in 2011. In addition to biomedical research laboratories, the building will also house an outpatient clinic, a collaborative strategy that will bring together research scientists and physicians. Founded in 1958, the CVRI is dedicated to research into heart and vascular diseases. Currently, CVRI staffers are working from a number of locations.

The facility will be constructed to silver-level Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards. Funded by a mixture of public and private funds, the 232,000-square-foot building project is located on the school’s Mission Bay research campus.

AngioDynamics closes Oncobionic deal
AngioDynamics (angiodynamics.com), a provider of medical devices used by interventional radiologists, nephrologists and surgeons for the minimally invasive treatment of peripheral vascular disease and cancer, has completed the $25.4 million, (including approximately $400,000 of assumed liabilities) acquisition of Oncobionic pursuant to the terms of the definitive agreement entered on Oct.12, 2006. The closing of the acquisition comes as a result of successful initial use of Oncobionic’s irreversible electroporation (IRE) technology in the first human clinical trial for the treatment of soft tissue, conducted during April.  VTN