A Medical Device Daily

Health Discovery (HDC; Savannah, Georgia) has entered into an exclusive agreement with the Pancreas, Biliary and Liver Surgery Center of New York at Saint Vincent Catholic Medical Centers (New York) to provide clinical specimens to be used to complete the final validation of HDC's molecular diagnostic test for colon cancer. This test demonstrated 93% sensitivity and 93% specificity in a previous validation study.

"We are very excited about the results of our previous validation study and look forward to achieving the same success in this final validation," said Stephen Barnhill, MD, chairman/CEO of HDC. "If we are successful in finding the molecular signature in blood as we were in tissue, HDC will have both a tissue-based colon cancer test to be used on biopsy specimens as well as a blood test which can be used as a screening test for colon cancer."

The Pancreas, Biliary and Liver Surgery Center of New York will provide specimens from its collected specimen banks, as well as blood and tissue specimens on all new patients along with all associated clinical and outcomes data.

HDC owns all of the intellectual property and commercialization rights to this molecular diagnostic test for colon cancer and HDC intends to partner with a large clinical laboratory for development, marketing and commercialization of this new colon cancer test.

In developing this new molecular diagnostic test for colon cancer, HDC employed the same discovery process that led to the urine-based prostate cancer test that is licensed for development and commercialization to Quest Diagnostics (Madison, New Jersey) and Abbott (Abbott Park, Illinois) on a royalty-based, world-wide co-exclusive basis.

In other agreements/contracts news:

• Intermec Technologies (Everett, Washington) reported its partnership with HealthWyse (Wilmington, Massachusetts) and Data Capture Solutions (Manchester, Connecticut) to provide healthcare professionals with access to electronic medical records anytime, anywhere.

"The partnership between Intermec, HealthWyse and Data Capture Solutions allows healthcare professionals to spend less time troubleshooting technology issues and more time on patient care," said Earl Thompson, senior vice president, Mobile Solutions Business Unit, Intermec.

• Skylight Healthcare Systems (San Diego), a provider of interactive patient systems, reported that San Jacinto Methodist Hospital (Houston) has finalized a contractual agreement to install and deploy Skylight Access for its 331 bed facility. San Jacinto will implement Skylight Access to support its ongoing endeavors to improve patient satisfaction and outcomes, enhancing operational and service excellence, meeting evolving clinical demands, and delivering on commitments to making a positive difference in the lives of the people they serve.

• Sunnybrook Hospital's (Toronto) eHealth Services and the Anne Johnston's Mid-Toronto Diabetes Education Program (Toronto) have recently partnered to improve personal health management of diabetes using Sunnybrook's MyChart, a personal electronic health management record system.

The Hospital and community partnership will focus on improving access to information for personal diabetes management in the community. With Sunnybrook's MyChart, clients can set up, manage and share their own personal health information with their care team. MyChart is a combination of clinical and personal health information with electronic sharing features. It can also be set up as a family health record with family health details, allergies, contact and emergency information.

• Principio (Rockville, Maryland) has obtained an exclusive license to several technologies developed at Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center (Baltimore).

The molecules include novel imaging and radiotherapeutic agents for Epstein Barr Virus (EBV) associated tumors and prostate cancer. The EBV technology leverages a specific enzyme produced by the virus to allow for the imaging and therapy of the tumors caused by the virus, which include numerous lymphomas, stomach cancer, nasopharyngeal cancers, and most AIDS related lymphomas.