A Medical Device Daily

Accuray (Sunnyvale, California), a provider of products in the field of radiosurgery, reported that the Gyeongsang National University Hospital (GNUH; Jinju, South Korea) has purchased a CyberKnife robotic radiosurgery system. This marks the seventh system sold in the country and its first equipped with the RoboCouch patient positioning system. GNUH is the first national university hospital in the country to purchase the system, allowing patients greater access to the benefits of radiosurgery.

With two decades of history, GNUH, the largest medical facility in the province, has been contributing to improving the health and quality of life of its patients with its 28 professional medical departments. The purchase of the CyberKnife system will initiate the development of a stereotactic radiosurgery practice, the hospital said. The system will be utilized for both intracranial and extracranial treatments, offering a full range of therapeutic options in the community.

Angiotech Quill lines okayed for sale in Brazil

Angiotech Pharmaceuticals (Vancouver, British Columbia) reported that it has received approval to begin marketing the Quill SRS Polydioxanone (PDO), Monoderm, Polypropylene and Nylon product lines in Brazil.

"We are very excited about the approval of the Quill SRS product lines in Brazil, one of the largest surgical markets in the world. Quill has been lauded in the U.S., Europe and Canada for the efficiency it brings to wound closure. Now, Brazilian patients and surgeons in plastics, orthopedics and gynecology can benefit from it as well," said Bill Hunter, president/CEO of Angiotech.

The Quill SRS product lines include two absorbable sutures – Monoderm and PDO, and two non-absorbable sutures – Polypropylene and Nylon, and are approved for sale in the U.S., Europe, and Canada.

The Quill Self-Retaining System (SRS) represents a novel technology in wound closure made possible by bidirectional fixation within the wound. Its patented design allows the surgeon to begin closure at the midpoint of the wound and suture in two directions from the midpoint. Barbs within the Quill SRS distribute tension across the wound and eliminate the need for knots.

Cryo-Cell inks accord with S-Evans

Cryo-Cell International (Oldsmar, Florida), a developer of stem cell innovations, reported that it has signed an exclusive license agreement with S-Evans Biosciences (SEB; Hangzhou, China), a privately-held stem cell and genomics technology company.

The partnership will allow SEB to market and manufacture proprietary C'elle menstrual stem cell technology including the processing and storage of menstrual stem cells (MenSCs) exclusively throughout mainland China. It will also allow SEB to conduct scientific research studies using Cryo-Cell's proprietary C'elle menstrual stem technology to identify future potential therapeutic applications for a broad possible range of diseases that may affect millions of people. The exclusive license agreement with SEB will provide Cryo-Cell with future royalty fees from the processing and annual storage of menstrual stem cells.

The C'elle service is based on Cryo-Cell's expansive patent pending IP technology portfolio and was introduced in November 2007 as the first and only service that empowers women to collect and cryopreserve menstrual flow containing undifferentiated adult stem cells for future potential utilization by the donor or possibly first-degree relatives in a manner similar to umbilical cord blood stem cells.