The Medical Device Business Journal — Medical Device News & Articles | MassDevice
Zoll Medical Corp. agreed to buy out Alsius Corp. for $12 million, adding the Irvine, Calif.-based intravascular temperature management product maker’s operations to its line of cardiac resuscitation devices.
Chelmsford, mass. based Zoll said it will integrate the Alsius business into its operations in Sunnyvale, Calif.
Creganna, the Irish medical device maker with operations in Marlborough, acquired Micromuscle AB and its Nobel Prize-winning artificial muscle technology for an undisclosed amount after the Swedish firm’s venture-capital backer backed out.
Linkoeping, Sweden-based Micromuscle’s electroactive polymer technology won the Nobel Prize in 2000, but the company was forced to shut down after one of its major VC investors pulled out.
Donna Lopolito spent 13 years as a CFO in the life sciences arena at PricewaterhouseCoopers, so she was a good pick when HepaLife Technologies Inc. tapped her to be its top financial guru.
Hard on the heels of the plea agreement added to its miserable week by posting nearly $30 million in losses for 2008.
The Waltham-based company said sales were off 30 percent from 2007. The drop off in sales contributed to a net loss of $27.7 million for the year, compared to an 8.4 million loss reported for 2007.
The bulk of its $4.1 million fourth-quarter net loss stemmed from the $3.7 million federal settlement, with the rest due to a $274,000 writedown on the NeuroMetrix January buyout of joint-venture partner Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology Systems Inc.
Nerve test equipment manufacturer NeuroMetrix Inc. paid $3.7 million to settle charges in a federal kickbacks and Medicare fraud case.
Under a deferred prosecution deal with U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan’s office in Boston and the federal Health and the Inspector General’s office of the federal Health & Human Services Dept., the Waltham-based device maker will pay $1.2 million to settle accusations of illegal kickbacks to physicians and $2.5 million to settle civil charges in that case and another alleged Medicare billing scam.
Nerve test equipment manufacturer NeuroMetrix Inc. bought out joint-venture partner Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology Systems Inc. and its Andara oscillating field stimulator technology for $350,000 in cash.
The technology is used to treat acute spinal cord injury and peripheral nerve damage. NeuroMetrix said it plans to integrate the technology into its suite of neurodiagnostic systems.
Texcel Medical Inc. tapped medical devices veteran John Mulvihill, 49, to lead its sales force.
Before joining the East Longmeadow contract manufacturer as its sales and marketing VP, Mulvihill’s last position was a two-year stint at Greatbatch Inc. in Clarence, N.Y., a firm that makes components for implantable medical devices, including power supplies for pacemakers, coatings and micro-molding.
He has also held management positions at Ethox International and ConMed Corp., where he was director of marketing.
