Intelligent Medical Devices Inc. won emergency clearance from the Food & Drug Administration for a test that can detect the presence of Swine Flu in about 90 minutes.
Diagnostics
Meridian seeks FDA nod for Illumigene test
Meridian Bioscience (NSDQ:VIVO) applied for federal regulatory approval of a next-generation molecular test that detects a type of bacteria that causes damage to the digestive system.
Inverness takes Standard Diagnostics stake to 75 percent
Inverness Medical Innovations Inc. (NYSE:IMA) closed a $36.4 million follow-on offer for more shares of Standard Diagnostics (KDQ:066930), taking its total stake in the Korean diagnostics firm to about 75 percent.
The Waltham, Mass.-based diagnostics and lab equipment maker has spent about $202.7 million acquiring its share of SD, which posted adjusted revenues of about $58.4 million and pre-tax income of roughly $24.4 million last year, according to a regulatory filing.
Weekly Wireless Roundup: How sleep startup Zeo started counting Zs
How sleep startup Zeo started counting Zs: When an alarm clocks wakes you up during the wrong sleep stage, you wake up feeling groggy. If the alarm clock happens to wake you during the right sleep stage, however, you awake feeling refreshed. Zeo co-founder and chief technology officer Ben Rubin cites that “powerful idea” as the genesis of Zeo’s “smart alarm clock,” which monitors sleep patterns and helps users wake up at optimal times.
Tomophase taps new president, COO
Tomophase Corp. tapped a former Pfizer executive, Ralph Johnston, to be its new president and COO.
Johnston worked for Norwood, Mass.-based Infusaid Corp., which developed an implantable drug infusion system and was acquired by Pfizer (NYSE:PFE). Johnston stayed with Pfizer after the acquisition, rising to vice president of marketing and sales for the Infusaid division. Pfizer sold Infusaid in 1997.
MedGadget’s MedTech Monday: Mainlining the Information Superhighway
Mainlining the Information Superhighway: Scientists at Korea University in Seoul developed a prototype biomonitoring system that transmits data through the body, replacing wires and minimizing the need for batteries. The device is 300 micrometres thick and in a test, using a metal electrode coated with a flexible silicon-rich polymer, the researchers transmitted data at a rate of 10 megabits per second through a subject’s arm. The device was tested for skin safety after continuous wearing and the data was transmitted via low-frequency electromagnetic waves through the skin.
Meridian rebounds slightly after cutting guidance
By Mary Vanac
Cardiac biomarker gets second life
By Mary Vanac
Jake Orville always thought the cardiac inflammation biomarker developed by Dr. Stanley Hazen and his colleagues at the Cleveland Clinic was a valuable and proven technology. But his efforts to make it a commercial success for spinoff company PrognostiX failed, largely due to the difficulty of getting the test through clinical trial process required by the Food & Drug Administration.
MassDevice Q&A: GenomeQuest CEO Ron Ranauro
Ron Ranauro spent the better part of two decades in the computer industry, watching as the personal computer and the Internet transformed the business. It’s growing maturity coincided with early efforts to sequence the human genome, leading Ranauro in the late 1990s to apply his computing chops to the life science scene.
MassDevice spoke with Ranauro as GenomeQuest launched an application programming interface that allows developers to customize apps for their labs’ research programs. We asked him about the API, what sets his venture apart from other sequencing data management firms (hint: it’s in the clouds) and got his take on the ethical implications of widespread access to genome sequencing technology.
HistoRx lands $1.5 million loan from Connecticut Innovations
HistoRx Inc., a cancer therapy diagnostics firm based in New Haven, won a $1.5 million loan from Connecticut’s quasi-public life sciences initiative.
HistoRx is developing what it calls AQUA, technology designed to assess the potential effectiveness of cancer drugs and predict patients’ responses to the treatments. The system uses fluorescence-based image analysis and automated microscopy to measure protein molecules. Connecticut Innovations, the quasi-public equivalent of the Mass. Life Sciences Center, is loaning the company $1.5 million to build out laboratory space and buy equipment.
Analogic’s medical business flat in Q2
Analogic Corp.’s (NSDQ:ALOG) largest business segment posted flat sales, with a 9 percent dip in its bread-and-butter MRI and CT equipment business offsetting stronger sales of specialized ultrasound equipment.
The Peabody, Mass.-based imaging equipment maker posted sales of $103.3 million for the three months ended Jan. 31, essentially flat compared with $102.7 million during the same period last year. Still, net income improved to $3.6 million, compared to $1.4 million for the same period last year, when the company took a $3.5 million hit to its bottom line when it laid off 145 employees, or about 9 percent of its total workforce.