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Aushon BioSystems Inc.acquired Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.‘s SearchLight protein array business for an undisclosed amount.
Aushon said it will continue to sell the acquisition’s products and services under the SearchLight brand under the Aushon BioSystems banner.
Some Boston medical devices firms seem to understand the meaning of saving for a rainy day, according to an Xconomy survey of public healthcare companies, but others are less like the proverbial ant and more like the grasshopper in their lack of thrift.
Of the 44 Boston-area life sciences companies trading on public exchanges the website‘s Luke Timmerman examined at the end of 2008, 19 had more than $100 million saved to withstand the current economic downturn.
Still River Systems Inc. raised $33 million from investors to speed development of its radiation therapy system.
The Littleton-based startup, which is developing a proton-beam radiotherapy therapy system it calls the Monarch250, plans to use the cash to expedite its development.
Investors ponying up for the latest round include new backer Venrock Associates and existing investors Caxton Health and Life Sciences and CHL Medical Partners.
Some Boston medical devices firms seem to understand the meaning of saving for a rainy day, according to an Xconomy survey of public healthcare companies, but others are less like the proverbial ant and more like the grasshopper in their lack of thrift.
The Advanced Medical Technology Assn. created a venture capital advisory council to help its members raise cash from venture capital firms.
Healthcare investor Deerfield Management Co. is ponying up $60 million to back Insulet Corp.
The Bedford-based device maker, which is developing the OmniPod insulin management system, posted a fourth-quarter revenue surge of 172 percent and added 2,200 customers, demonstrating the growth potential of the tubing-free insulin pump.
Under the terms of the agreement, Deerfield will provide Insulet with $27.5 million within fifteen business days of inking the deal, with another $32.5 million available at Insulet’s discretion over the next 20 months. The note comes due in 2012.
Healthcare providers used to be in an arms race of sorts, dashing to nab the latest MRI or CT scanning technology before their competitors. Although expensive, top-of-the-line scanners can cost about $2 million, medical imaging is a high-margin business and the providers believed those with the best tools and hottest technology would bring in more patients.
For a while, the medical imaging industry was resistant to economic downturns. As recently as last July, Cleveland research firm The Freedonia Group predicted 6 percent annual increases in U.S. demand for imaging products through 2010.
For now, though, it looks like the party might be over.
After advocating for tougher food safety measures, President Barack Obama picked Dr. Margaret Hamburg, 53, to head the federal Food and Drug Administration, according to news reports.
Hamburg, now a scientist at Ted Turner’s Nuclear Threat Initiative, which focuses on reducing the danger of “loose nukes” and other weapons of mass destruction, has a wealth of public health experience. She’s received two degrees from Harvard and at 36 became New York City’s youngest health commissioner.
Brigham and Women’s Hospital and IBM teamed up on a project that lets medical professionals meet anywhere, anytime, to review a patients’ cases.
Medical experts will be able to simultaneously review results of CT scans, MRIs, EKGs and other medical tests using one of Big Blue’s secure servers, regardless of their whereabouts.
The “radiology theatre” will feature live streaming audio and video to enable discussion, entering case notes and adding information to a patient’s record.
The Food & Drug Administration gave the nod to a pair of Hologic‘s tests for human papillomavirus.
The Bedford firm, which makes diagnostics, medical imaging systems and surgical products for women, said its Cervista high risk and 16/18 HPV tests were approved by the watchdog agency.
The high-risk test determines if patients need a colposcopy and screens women 30 years old and older for high-risk HPV. It’s the first HPV DNA test approved by the FDA in more than 10 years, the company said.
Following a less than two-year stint on the board of directors at Boston Scientific Corp., J. Raymond Elliot resigned his seat to start a new, as-yet unspecified venture.
The Natick medical device colossus said March 9 that Elliot would not stand for re-election at the company’s annual shareholders meeting.
