A Medical Device Daily

Jolife (Lund, Sweden) said it has renewed the exclusive distribution agreement of the LUCAS chest compression system with Physio Control (Redmond, Washington), a division of Medtronic (Minneapolis). The LUCAS chest compression system is a device that assists rescuers such as first responders, paramedics, nurses and doctors, in saving sudden cardiac arrest patients.

Physio Control will continue to market the LUCAS system globally, with the exception of Sweden, Norway and Finland where Jolife has its own direct sales force. LUCAS is approved and marketed in major markets such as the U.S., Canada, Japan, Australia, and in Europe.

"We know more than ever that CPR performance is vital to the survival of victims of sudden cardiac arrest. Having LUCAS as part of our resuscitation products and solutions lineup is another example of Physio-Control bringing innovation to the emergency care industry," said Brian Webster, president of Physio-Control. "Our partnership with Jolife enables us to continue our commitment to clinical and operational advancements for our customers."

"Physio Control has a perfectly matched product portfolio for resuscitation combined with a dedicated global sales and service organization," said Erik von Schenck, CEO of Jolife. "We are confident that this continued partnership will benefit both companies, and more importantly, improve the care of the cardiac arrest patients and the working environment for rescuers."

The LUCAS system is designed to perform continuous mechanical chest compressions to maintain blood flow to the brain and heart. International resuscitation guidelines issued in 2005 stress the importance of effective and uninterrupted chest compressions prior to defibrillation, the company noted. LUCAS performs chest compressions in accordance with these guidelines, without risking quality variations or personnel fatigue. The mechanical CPR device has been shown to increase blood circulation in the patient and to be as safe as manual compressions, according to Jolife.

In other agreements/contracts news:

• Clinipace (Morrisville, North Carolina), a digital clinical research organization, reported that Small Bone Innovations (SBi; New York) has awarded four new projects to the company during 1Q09. These projects primarily include electronic data capture (EDC) and data management services, Clinipace said.

SBi offers a portfolio of products and technologies to treat trauma and diseases in small bones and joints and has recently acquired the S.T.A.R. total ankle replacement system. "In selecting Clinipace, we found a partner who understands the culture and financial needs of a growing medical device firm. We share a common vision for more project visibility and appreciate their approach to service delivery," said James O'Connor VP of worldwide regulatory, quality and clinical affairs, surgeons ethics and compliance at SBi.

"We are investing in multiple clinical projects. This requires a select group of clinical and regulatory service providers to work closely together with SBi. We turned to Clinipace to serve as the glue to hold the projects together from a data management perspective. Having complete real-time visibility into study-level information is critical to our success," O'Connor said.

•Cytori Therapeutics (San Diego) and GE Healthcare (Chalfont St. Giles, UK) reported an agreement by which GE will commercialize Cytori's StemSource technology in the North American stem cell banking and research markets. The StemSource technology includes automated equipment to process stem and regenerative cells found in adipose tissue, cryopreserve them or use them directly for research purposes, the companies noted.

In January, Cytori and GE Healthcare formed a separate agreement to commercialize Cytori's products in ten European countries. This includes selling the Celution 800/CRS System in the European cosmetic and reconstructive surgery market as well as selling StemSource products in the European cell banking and research markets (Medical Device Daily, Jan. 14, 2009).

The new partnership is similar in nature to the European agreement, but is limited to the sale of StemSource banking and research products in the U.S., Canada and Mexico for 18 months starting in the 2Q09. The new agreement does not include U.S. commercialization of Cytori's Celution System, which is currently under review by the FDA.

• Hawaii Medical Center (Honolulu) said it would provide in-network medical care to members of Humana's ChoicePPO Medicare Advantage Plan under a long-term participating hospital agreement.

Members of Humana's ChoicePPO Medicare Advantage Plan will have in-network benefit access to all inpatient, outpatient and emergency services provided by the 240-bed Hawaii Medical Center East Campus, at 2226 Liliha St. in Honolulu, and the 102-bed Hawaii Medical Center West Campus, located at 91-2141 Fort Weaver Road in Ewa Beach.

• Premier Purchasing Partners (Charlotte, North Carolina) reported new agreements for telecommunication equipment distributors have been awarded to Teldata (d/b/a Black Box Network Services; Nashville, Tennessee).

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

Premier also reported that new agreements for clinical modular casework have been awarded to InnerSpace (Grand Rapids, Michigain), and InterMetro Industries (Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania). Effective July 1, the agreements are available to acute-care and continuum-of-care members of the Premier healthcare alliance.