A Diagnostics & Imaging Week

ProUroCare (Minneapolis) reported entering into two agreements with Artann Laboratories (Trenton, New Jersey) to complete development, conduct clinical trials and file for FDA clearance on the company's ProUroScan prostate imaging system.

ProUroCare will provide to Artann consideration in the form of cash and ProUroCare common stock, along with royalty payments based on the ProUroScan's worldwide net sales.

The agreements grant to each party license rights and expand the working relationship of the two companies to include development and licensing of future generations of the ProUroScan system.

Under the agreement, Artann will conduct and complete all remaining product development activities, clinical testing and evaluations, and make an FDA 510(k) submission. Artann also will supply ProUroCare with systems for pre-commercial testing and validations, marketing and clinical studies and facilitate transfer of the product to a third party manufacturing partner.

In the deal, Artann granted to ProUroCare an exclusive license to patent applications and trade secrets to mechanical imaging technology used in the diagnosis or treatment of urologic disorders of the prostate, kidney or liver. ProUroCare granted to Artann rights to its mechanical imaging patents for the breast field of use.

ProUroCare develops mechanical imaging technology applications for the detection and surveillance of prostate disease.

In other dealmaking news:

Bioheart (Sunrise, Florida) reported that it has agreed to acquire Medicalgorithmics (Warsaw, Poland) and the rights to that company's PokcetECG, a real-time wireless beat-to-beat, heart monitor system for long-term, fully-automated ECG arrhythmia analysis. The device recently received CE mark approval for European marketing.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed; the companies said they will conduct their due diligence reviews within the next 60-90 days.

"Similar in size to an MP3 player, patients find the PocketECG easy to use 24-hours-per-day in the comfort of their homes and when going about their normal activities," said Dr. Marek Dziubinski, co-founder and CTO at Medicalgorithmics.

The device connects to the patient via electrodes and wirelessly transmits data in real time 24-hours-a-day directly to the physician or a monitoring center for long-term monitoring over a period of days or weeks. Like other companies it this sector, the company says the intent is to reduce emergency hospital stays, improve care and reduce costs.

"We believe the merger of these two companies would create important synergies in the diagnosis, monitoring and potential treatment of heart failure patients, specifically in the area of arrhythmias and A-Fib," said Howard Leonhardt, CEO/CTO and chairman of Bioheart. "The monitoring and management of patients experiencing arrhythmias and A-Fib represents one of the fastest-growing segments of the treatment market."

Veridex (Raritan, New Jersey), a business of Johnson & Johnson (New Brunswick, New Jersey) developing in vitro diagnostic oncology product, reported closing its previously disclosed acquisition of the assets of Immunicon (Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania) and its wholly-owned subsidiaries for $31 million, that deal first unveiled in June.

The assets, acquired just after Immunicon filed for Chapter 11bankruptcy, include intellectual property, product inventory and clinical data, as well as all technologies related to the CellSearch System, the first diagnostic test to automate the detection and enumeration of circulating tumor cells (CTCs), cancer cells that detach from solid tumors and enter the blood stream. The system is currently cleared for the prognosis and monitoring of patients with metastatic breast, metastatic colorectal and metastatic prostate cancer.

Veridex also acquired all technologies related to Repeat-Free (RF) Poseidon Fluorescent In-Situ Hybridization (FISH) Probes, which it called the latest advance in FISH DNA probes.

VWR International (West Chester, Pennsylvania), a laboratory supply company, reported acquiring Spektrum-3D Kft (Debrecen, Hungary), a private scientific laboratory supply distributor.

Spektrum-3D distributes laboratory chemicals, consumables, furniture, equipment and instrumentation to laboratories throughout Hungary, including customers in the pharmaceutical and chemical industries and scientific research institutes.

Manuel Brocke-Benz, senior VP and managing director of European operations for VWR, said, "This acquisition demonstrates our ongoing commitment to the Central and Eastern European markets and our intention to expand our product and service offerings globally. VWR started penetrating these markets a number of years ago through our export operations but have successfully developed a local supply chain in recent years to provide improved service to our valued customers."

Alliance Imaging (Newport Beach, California), a national provider of outpatient diagnostic imaging services and radiation therapy services, reported that it has acquired Medical Outsourcing Services (MOS; Naperville, Illinois), a mobile provider of positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT).

MOS currently generates about $22 million of annual net revenue and serves about 90 clients in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

The purchase price is expected to total about $20 million in cash and assumed indebtedness.

Alliance had 500 diagnostic imaging and radiation therapy systems, including 314 MRI systems and 81 PET or PET/CT systems, and served more than 1,000 clients in 44 states as of March 31.

The company operated 88 fixed-site imaging centers (five in unconsolidated joint ventures), which includes systems installed in hospitals or other buildings on or near hospital campuses, medical groups' offices, or medical buildings and retail sites.

It also operated 18 radiation therapy centers and stereotactic radiosurgery facilities (two radiation therapy centers are in unconsolidated joint ventures) as of March 31.