• Cepheid (Sunnyvale, California) has entered into an agreement with Labsco (Louisville, Kentucky), a laboratory supply company, to become its U.S. distribution partner for Cepheid's GeneXpert Systems and tests. The agreement grants Labsco exclusive U.S. distribution rights to the acute care hospital market for institutions with less than 150 beds. In addition to the exclusive distribution rights, the agreement also gives Labsco non-exclusive rights to the non-acute care non-hospital market, including surgical centers affiliated with hospitals, independent surgical centers, physician's office laboratories, group practices, and nursing homes.

• CryoLife (Kennesaw, Georgia), an implantable biological medical device and cardiovascular tissue processing company, said that it has successfully completed its acquisition of Cardiogenesis (Irvine, California). CryoLife first broke the news that it would acquire Cardiogenesis for $22 million, net of cash and liabilities, back in early April. Cardiogenesis' YAG laser system and single use, fiber-optic delivery systems are FDA approved for performing a surgical procedure known as Transmyocardial Revascularization (TMR), which treats patients with angina that is not responsive to standard medications. CryoLife believes that the delivery of biologic materials, such as stem cells, in conjunction with TMR could increase the estimated U.S. market potential to greater than $700 million. Cardiogenesis has also developed the Phoenix Combination Delivery System, which is designed to combine the intramyocardial delivery of biologic materials with TMR.

• Rhythmia Medical (Burlington, Massachusetts) and Endosense (Geneva, Switzerland) have engaged in a joint development project to integrate the contact-force data provided by Endosense's TactiCath force-sensing ablation catheter into Rhythmia's three-dimensional cardiac mapping, visualization and navigation system. The project's objective is to build on earlier feasibility tests to develop an integrated solution that allows electrophysiologists to quickly, efficiently and effectively view catheter tip-to-tissue contact force on a high-resolution, 3-D electro-anatomical map.

• Safeguard Scientifics (Wayne, Pennsylvania) reported that life sciences partner company Advance BioHealing (ABH; Westport, Connecticut) has signed a definitive agreement to be acquired by Shire Pharmaceuticals (Basingstoke, UK) for $750 million in cash. The deal is expected to close late in the second quarter or early in the third quarter of 2011. It is anticipated that Safeguard will receive aggregate cash proceeds of more than $140 million in connection with the transaction, which represents a more than 13x cash-on-cash return. Five percent of such proceeds will be held in escrow pending the expiration of an escrow period expiring on March 31, 2012. ABH makes Dermagraft, a bio-engineered living skin substitute that assists in restoring damaged tissue and supports the body's natural healing process. Dermagraft is FDA approved to treat diabetic foot ulcers.

• Stryker (Kalamazoo, Michigan) is strengthening its position in the orthopedics sector with its acquisition of Orthovita (Malvern, Pennsylvania). The agreement calls for Stryker to acquire all of the common stock of Orthovita for $3.85 per share cash which is about $316 million. The share price represents a premium of 41% from Orthovita's closing price the last business day before the news of the acquisition was reported. It will also assume $12 million in debt held by Orthovita.

• Toshiba Medical Systems (Tokyo) reported that it would buy Vital Images (Minneapolis) for $18.75 a share, or roughly $273 million in the aggregate, through a cash tender offer followed by a merger. The agreement has been unanimously approved by the boards of both companies. Vital shareholders will get $18.75 in cash for each outstanding share they own, representing a 39% premium over the volume-weighted average Vital Images share price for the past 30 days.

• Thermo Fisher Scientific (Waltham, Massachusetts) reported that it will acquire Phadia (Uppsala, Sweden), an allergy and autoimmunity diagnostics company, for €2.47 billion (or roughly $3.5 billion) in cash. Thermo says it plans to buy Phadia from European private equity firm Cinven in a transaction expected to be completed in the fourth quarter. Thermo said the deal is expected to be immediately accretive to its adjusted earnings per share and accretive by 26 cents to 30 cents a share in 2012. Phadia develops complete blood-test systems to support the clinical diagnosis and monitoring of allergy and autoimmune diseases. Phadia operates through two brands: ImmunoCAP for allergy tests and EliA for autoimmunity tests. Phadia will be part of Thermo Fisher's Specialty Diagnostics business within its Analytical Technologies Segment. Phadia has about 1,500 employees globally.

• Ventas (Chicago) said it has completed a $3.1 billion acquisition of 118 private-pay senior housing communities of Atria Senior Living Group (Louisville, Kentucky). Prior to closing, Atria spun off its management business to Atria Senior Living, a new company that will continue to manage the acquired properties, Ventas noted.

• Volcano (San Diego), a maker of precision guided therapy tools designed to enhance the treatment of coronary and peripheral vascular disease, has signed a supply agreement with ev3 (Plymouth, Minnesota), a Covidien (Mansfield, Massachusetts) company, under which Volcano will supply its proprietary intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) technology for use in ev3's plaque excision systems.