A Medical Device Daily

RF Monolithics (Dallas) has secured a multi-year agreement with an undisclosed major medical equipment manufacturer for its ultra-low power short-range radio, the Virtual Wire transceiver. The product has taken several years to attain various levels of qualification and is now in volume production. The agreement sets forth the customer's intent to continue use of this product, in volume, for the next five years.

The terms of this supply agreement, including the name of the customer, are covered under a confidentiality agreement.

“RFM's ultra-low power short-range radio, Virtual Wire, has been designed into various medical devices in recent years. This business, along with our custom modules, specific to medical applications, has driven this market segment to as much as 24% of our total business in recent quarters. There are multiple applications for RFM's enabling products ranging from diagnostic communication devices to patient monitoring equipment. These applications give us a solid footprint into a rapidly growing wireless market for years to come. We continue to seek additional innovative opportunities as M2M standards emerge in the medical market,“ said David Kirk, president/CEO of RFM.

In other agreements/contracts news:

• Hypnoz Therapeutic Devices (San Diego) has signed a distribution agreement with LMA North America (LMANA; San Diego)thatappoints LMANA as the exclusive distributor in the U.S. of Hypnoz's first product – the Jaw Elevation Device (JED). This agreement represents the parties' first partnership together.

The JED is an externally applied, non-invasive device which assists the provider in maintaining an open airway in patients who are sedated or anesthetized and whose breathing may therefore be compromised. The JED lifts the patient's head to flex the neck and elevates the mandible while rotating the head backwards, creating the classic sniffing position. The JED will be used in Monitored Anesthesia Care cases or in other situations where the airway may be compromised.

• Real-Time Innovations (RTI; Sunnyvale, California) reported that Still River Systems (Littleton, Massachusetts) has selected RTI Data Distribution Service software for the Monarch250 PBRT System. The Monarch250 is Still River's proton beam radiotherapy (PBRT) system that is under development for use by physicians and their patients at cancer centers around the world. Conventional cancer treatment uses high-energy X-rays. These affect tissue along the X-ray beam path, damaging the DNA of cancerous cells as well as non-cancerous ones. In contrast, the proton therapy systems have been shown to tailor high-energy doses to attack cancerous tumors while minimizing damage to adjacent tissue. Other PBRT systems cost $100 million or more and can require the space of a football field. Still River will provide a cost-efficient PBRT system that fits in a single radiation therapy bunker room once the Monarch250 is cleared by FDA.

Still River uses RTI Data Distribution Service as the coordinating data-bus between the Monarch250's programmable logic controllers used for motion control, and the rest of the system, which includes monitoring, delivery and display technology.

• Premier Purchasing Partners (Charlotte, North Carolina) said a new agreement for OR equipment drapes has been awarded to Microtek Medical (Alpharetta, Georgia). Effective April 1, 2010, the agreement is available to acute care and continuum of care members of the Premier healthcare alliance.