A Medical Device Daily

Medtronic (Minneapolis) says it has added an innovative bone cement delivery system to its spine product portfolio with the acquisition of the assets and intellectual property of Pabban Development (Irvine, California). The deal provides Kyphon products, made by Medtronic, with a bone cement delivery system used in the treatment of vertebral compression fractures (VCFs) that allow physicians to be farther from the fluoroscope than with the current Medtronic offering, the company said.

Orthopedic surgeons, neurosurgeons, interventional neuroradiologists, and pain management specialists can use the newly acquired system during the Kyphon Balloon Kyphoplasty procedure for the treatment of VCFs, Medtronic noted. With this procedure, small balloons are inserted and inflated in the fractured area of the vertebra to help restore the height of the vertebral body. After the balloons are deflated and removed, the cavity that has been created is filled with bone cement that has been developed for this procedure, creating an internal cast.

"We are excited about this addition to our product family because we can offer our customers an alternative for bone cement delivery that compares more favorably with competitive offerings," said Robert White, president of Kyphon products, part of the Spinal and Biologics business at Medtronic, which markets Kyphon Balloon Kyphoplasty. "We are looking forward to incorporating this technology into our Balloon Kyphoplasty procedure, which is used by more than 12,000 doctors around the world to treat VCFs caused by osteoporosis and cancer."

In other dealmaking activity:

• Mediscience Technology (Cherry Hill, New Jersey), said its subsidiary, BioScopix (New York), has acquired SensiVida Medical Systems (Rochester, New York), a diagnostic device company.

According to the company, SensiVida's Microsystems-based technology automates bio-sensing and data acquisition while minimizing patient discomfort. Its platform technology is designed to address a number of disease-state diagnostics, including allergy testing, pain-free automated glucose monitoring without bio-fouling, blood coagulation testing, TB testing, and cholesterol monitoring.

SensiVida's product pipeline, based on the same technology, includes a portable glucose monitor. This device consists of a patch or chip having multiple, individually addressable sensors that are activated in accordance with the patient's test schedule, automatically recording the patient's glucose level without pain, bio-fouling or clogging, the company said.

The company also reported that the president/CEO of Mediscience/BioScopix and the newly merged company will be Kamal Sarbadhikari, the current CEO of SensiVida, and the CTO and VP of all business development will be Jose Mir, current CTO of SensiVida.

• Joshua Partners (Dayton, New Jersey) said it has completed the acquisition of Medica (Minneapolis), now renamed Medicia Holdings. Medicia is a leading full-service contract manufacturer of personal care products, over-the-counter drug preparations and private label products, including full turnkey production. The company makes a wide range of products including medical devices.

Joshua Partners says it is focused on acquiring majority stakes in a select number of lower middle market companies, providing stable capital and top management expertise, and building them into industry leaders over the long term.

• Almost Family (Louisville, Kentucky) said it has agreed to acquire the assets of the Medicare-certified home health agency owned by Fairfield Medical Center (Columbus, Ohio).

Almost Family provides home health nursing services, with branch locations in Florida, Kentucky, Connecticut, New Jersey, Ohio, Massachusetts, Alabama, Missouri, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Indiana.

• Perot Systems (Plano, Texas) said it has acquired substantially all of the assets of Tellurian Networks (Newton, New Jersey), a managed services hosting provider of electronic medical records and practice management applications to physician groups. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Tellurian serves physician practice groups with an innovative managed services hosting model that provides physicians with world-class technology, such as EMR and PM applications on a per-doctor and per-user basis. This model enables physician groups to lower and control costs while improving patient care. Perot Systems, which provides comprehensive healthcare solutions to primarily large provider-owned practices and academic medical centers, acquired Tellurian to broaden its reach into a greater component of the physician practice group market.

Perot Systems is a worldwide provider of information technology services and business solutions.