A Medical Device Daily

Acacia Research (Newport Beach, California) reported that its Thermal Scalpel subsidiary has entered into a patent license agreement with Smith & Nephew Endoscopy (Andover, Massachusetts) covering certain Smith & Nephew electro-surgery products. The agreement resolves litigation that was pending in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas with respect to those Smith & Nephew products, Acacia noted.

Acacia's subsidiaries develop, acquire, and license patented technologies.

In other agreements/contracts news:

• MEI Development (Coral Springs, Florida), a subsidiary of the MEI Healthcare Group, reported a strategic agreement with GE Healthcare (Waukesha, Wisconsin), a leading provider of healthcare technology.

The sole-source, strategic agreement offers GE Healthcare's customers the option of MEI's broad solutions, including development, financial, oncology, women's health and consulting services.

"Our partnership with MEI provides a single, seamless platform for a comprehensive imaging solution," said Bob White, senior vice president, GE Healthcare.

"[This] agreement ensures that MEI will continue to provide physician and hospital clients with seamless access to GE's industry-leading technology, which is fundamental to delivering MEI's comprehensive solution portfolio," said Gordon Baltzer, president/CEO of the MEI Healthcare Group.

MEI Development provides turnkey solutions for physicians, outpatient facilities and hospitals that are interested in adding and updating imaging technology. MEI offers an array of services, including determining project viability, creation and implementation of business planning, procurement of imaging equipment and complete project financing.

• Guided Therapeutics (GT; Norcross) reported an agreement with Konica Minolta Opto (Tokyo) to co-develop non-invasive cancer detection products. The new development agreement follows two years of collaborative preparations to identify large market opportunities that would benefit from GT's technology, the company said.

The new products, for the detection of lung and esophageal cancer, are based on GT's LightTouch non-invasive cervical cancer detection technology, which is currently under FDA review for premarket approval.

GT says it is developing a rapid and painless test for the early detection of disease that leads to cervical cancer. The technology is designed to provide an objective result at the point of care thereby improving the management of cervical disease. Unlike Pap and HPV tests, the device does not require a painful tissue sample and results are known immediately, the company noted.

• RF Surgical Systems (Bellevue, Washington) and Medline Industries (Mundelein, Illinois) reported a new non-exclusive distribution agreement and have amicably resolved their legal dispute.

Medline will continue to distribute the RF Surgical Detection System to hospitals, surgery centers and other health care providers in the United States and Canada. Additionally, Medline and RF Surgical will expand their relationship to include Australia and New Zealand.

The FDA-approved RF Surgical Detection System scans for and signals an alert if any radio frequency-tagged sponges, gauze or towels remain in a patient prior to surgical closing procedures. Since the system was FDA approved over two years ago, all hospitals currently using this technology have eliminated the problem of retained surgical sponges/gauze in patients, according to the company.

• Clinical Data (Newton, Massachusetts) said it established a research collaboration with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (Boston) to validate the use of genetic variants in Fc gamma receptors, including FCGR3A, in predicting response to Herceptin (trastuzumab, from Genentech) therapy in breast cancer patients. Researchers will evaluate FCGR genotypes and their association with pathological and clinical response to Herceptin therapy. Preliminary data are anticipated by the end of this year.

• Premier Purchasing Partners (San Diego) said that GE Medical Systems (Waukesha, Wisconsin) has been added to the hand-carried ultrasound portfolio. Additional companies were reported in April: Sonosite and Terason Ultrasound (Burlington, Massachusetts).

Effective April 1, the agreement is available to acute-care and continuum-of-care members of the Premier healthcare alliance.

• Alpine Biomed (Fountain Valley, California) reported an agreement with Given Imaging (Yoqneam, Israel) to enhance its gastrodiagnostic testing capabilities. The company's GastroTrac gastroenterology software suite will interface with Given Imaging's Bravo pH Monitoring System to provide doctors with a single system for their gastrointestinal testing needs.

Alpine will incorporate the Bravo pH software into a fully integrated version of GastroTrac with a comprehensive range of tests including catheter-based pH monitoring, upper and lower GI motility testing, electrogastrography and biofeedback. To simplify patient records, the Bravo pH software will share the GastroTrac database with the catheter-based pH monitoring studies. Alpine's VersaFlex pH catheters and the Bravo pH capsule are the only pH devices validated for use on the integrated GastroTrac system, the company noted.