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EPA extends ToxCast deal with Caliper

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The federal Environmental Protection Agency extended its contract with Caliper Life Sciences for its ToxCast project.

The program, which has added about $3.5 million to Caliper’s top line since it began the contract in 2007, is an effort to reduce costs and increase the efficiency of the regulatory approval process for new chemicals.

ToxCast has Caliper helping the EPA develop new lab approaches to identify environmentally toxic chemicals. Its first phase involved assessing overall data quality and determining if the data could accurately predict toxicity profiles.

Inverness closes ACON Labs deal for $200 million

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Three years after inking a deal with San Diego-based ACON Laboratories
to acquire a significant portion of its rapid diagnostic business, Inverness Medical will close out the $200 million acquisition with cash and stock.

The March 19 deal completes an agreement initiated in 2006, when Waltham-based Inverness acquired the rights to ACON’s rapid diagnostic businesses in the United States, Canada, parts of the EU, Australia, Israel, Japan and New Zealand.

MedAptus lands another investment round to expand its product line

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MedAptus tapped its lead investor for another round of financing aimed at growing its suite of handheld products that help physicians more efficiently code procedures for reimbursement.

The Boston-based mobile physician coding tools maker secured secured $6 million in financing from Boston Millennia Partners, one of three venture capital firms with stakes in the company.

Lost in translation

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A two-year survey by Crimson Life Sciences found that the average serious error rate — serious enough to cause harm to patients — was 400 percent higher than the serious error rate for industry best practices.

The Brighton-based translation services provider analyzed 21 languages, dozens of labeling audits and more than a million translated words. The high incidence of error suggests that many medical device makers face substantial liability and recall risks from translations of their labeling, company officials claimed.

Rhythmia lands N.I.H. grant to develop “heart map” catheter

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Rhythmia Medical Inc. won a $200,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health to help it develop its electronic catheter for use during cardiac ablation procedures, Mass High Tech reported.

The Burlington-based startup plans to use its Small Business Innovation Research grant to develop its electronic catheter, which is designed to map the heart and its electrical activity during catheter ablations, in which surgeons remove the damaged cardiac tissue that causes arrhythmia, or irregular heartbeats.

Pulmatrix raises $3 million in funding

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Mass High Tech is reporting that Pulmatrix Inc., a Lexington-based biotechnology startup that’s developing inhaled therapies for respiratory infectious diseases, raised $3.5 million.

The company, which isn’t speaking publicly about the financing and only recently came out of stealth mode, is another Robert Langer company financed by Polaris Ventures of Waltham.

Generation Health to boost its Massachusetts footprint

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Generation Health is boosting its Boston-area presence with a benefits management system for genetic tests in the Bay State, the Xconomy website reported.

The company has offices hosted at the Waltham offices of health data analytics firm D2Hawkeye and genetic testing laboratory Correlagen Diagnostics Inc.

Ants versus grasshoppers

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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.