A Medical Device Daily

Quidel (San Diego), a developer of point-of-care rapid diagnostic tests, reported that it has not seen the typical seasonal spike in demand for its influenza tests. The company said so far, the influenza season appears to be marked by "both a late start as well as weakness in overall flu incidence."

"In light of both the late start and weakness of this influenza season, we have seen few reorders of our influenza products from our distribution partners in this first quarter of 2009," said Douglas Bryant, president/CEO of Quidel. "The number of doctor visits for influenza like illness is significantly lower than the prior year. We believe this has had a negative impact on the sales of our influenza as well as our Group A strep products."

He added, "We anticipate that the company will incur a loss for the first quarter of 2009 primarily as a result of a significant reduction in sales of our influenza products."

In response, Bryant said that Quidel "will implement additional cost-control measures and appropriately focus the use of resources. For 2009 and beyond, we will implement new inventory management programs and guidelines in a continuing effort to better balance distributor inventories with anticipated market demand."

In other restructuring news, Sunburst Electronics (Erie, Pennsylvania), a contract manufacturer of electronic controls for a variety of industries, including medical devices, said it has completed a significant stage in its continued expansion by increasing both capacity and printed circuit board production capabilities via a major capital equipment purchase.

Anticipating growing its business in the military, medical and other "high-reliability" markets this year, the company said it added a full-service MYDATAR production line for surface mount applications.