A Medical Device Daily

Ceragenix Pharmaceuticals (Denver), a medical device company focused on infectious disease and dermatology, has provided an update to a previously reported exclusive evaluation and option to license agreement with a global healthcare company covering the use of the company's CeraShield antimicrobial technology for a medical device associated with a high incidence of hospital acquired infections.

Ceragenix said that it has been notified by this potential partner that it has successfully completed its initial evaluation and has decided to invoke its right to negotiate commercialization terms pursuant to the terms of the agreement.

Under the terms of the agreement, the partner now has an exclusive 90-day period to negotiate a license agreement for the CeraShield technology within the field of use as defined in the agreement. There is no assurance that the parties will be able to reach an agreement on the terms of a license agreement. For competitive reasons, neither the name of the company nor the precise field of use has been publicly disclosed.

"We're very pleased to announce this progress in our licensing efforts. We are very encouraged by the superior performance of the CeraShield antimicrobial coating in comparison to an established antimicrobial device in a rigorous in-vitro testing methodology undertaken by the partner leading to this announcement," said Steven Porter, chairman/CEO of Ceragenix.

In other agreements and contracts news:

• AccuVein (Cold Spring Harbor, New York) reported a two-year agreement with HealthTrust Purchasing Group (Brentwood, Tennessee) to bring the AccuVein AV300, a hand-held, non-contact vein illumination device, to HealthTrust member facilities. HealthTrust will provide participating healthcare sites access to the AV300 to help locate hard-to-find veins. The AccuVein AV300 projects a pattern of light on a patient's skin, revealing vein position to help the health care professional locate veins for blood draw and IV starts (venipuncture).

• Premier Purchasing Partners (Charlotte, North Carolina) reported that new agreements for safety phlebotomy devices have been awarded to Becton Dickinson (Franklin Lakes, New Jersey); Greiner Vacuette North America (Monroe, North Carolina) and Smiths Medical (Rockland, Massachusetts).

Effective Oct. 1, 2009, the agreements are available to acute care and continuum of care members of the Premier healthcare alliance.

Additionally, Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System (SRHS; Spartanburg, South Carolina) is expanding its participation in the Premier healthcare alliance LaborConnect program. SRHS will deploy Concerro's new shift management system, a component of Premier's LaborConnect program, to track and streamline staff scheduling practices

The TriZetto Group (Newport Beach, California) has inked a six-year software and services contract with Lovelace Health Plan (Albuquerque, New Mexico) to enable the provider-owned plan to more efficiently serve its roughly 200,000 members in New Mexico, optimize business operations and move toward Integrated Healthcare Management (IHM).

TriZetto will provide business process outsourcing services on a TriZetto-hosted and managed Facets enterprise administration system.

"By consolidating systems and vendors and entrusting TriZetto to manage both our software and our processes, Lovelace will have better insight into key data and trends and can increase its attention on areas that differentiate us from our competitors, including our constituent engagement and delivery of high-quality care through an integrated delivery network," said Bob Skinner, assistant VP of information technology at Lovelace Health Plan.

• InPlace Medical Solutions (Houston), a video telemedicine-based offshore medical service, has been selected by Noble Drilling US (New Orleans) to support its newest ultra-deepwater semisubmersible drilling rig, the Noble Danny Adkins, as it enters service in Noble's fleet. With its fleet of 62 rigs, Noble is a leading offshore drilling contractor for the oil and gas industry.

InPlace's service aboard the Adkins commenced earlier this month and supports the medical needs of the contractors and crew for sea trials, commissioning, and continued operations in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico in the early part of 2010.