Covidien (Mansfield, Massachusetts) will mark its first year as an independent healthcare products company with worldwide celebrations today. The company and its 42,000 employees will commemorate the historic milestone with "Covidien@One" anniversary activities at more than 200 offices, laboratories and manufacturing facilities located in 57 countries around the world.

Covidien President/CEO Richard Meelia congratulated employees on their outstanding efforts during the company's first year, noting "a tremendous sense of pride and excitement about what we have accomplished." Meelia told employees, "With your hard work and dedication, we expect the year ahead to bring continued strong progress as we launch major new products, execute our strategic growth initiatives and further globalize our business."

Covidien makes a wide range of product lines in four segments: medical devices, imaging solutions, pharmaceutical products and medical supplies.

Synthetic Blood now Oxygen Biotherapeutics

Oxygen Biotherapeutics (Costa Mesa, California) is the new name for the company previously known as Synthetic Blood International. The company's new trading symbol on the Over the Counter Bulletin Board is OXBO.

"Our new name better reflects the broader scope of our development activities," said CEO Chris Stern. "We have several exciting bio-therapeutic applications for Oxycyte, yet none of them is synthetic blood. What we're doing is developing advanced oxygen-based therapies using Oxycyte including traumatic brain injury, sickle cell pain crisis, wound treatment, organ transport, heart attack, stroke, and, as a long shot, spinal cord injury."

The company is the developer of Oxycyte, a perfluorocarbon therapeutic oxygen carrier.

Sound Surgical to make all products in U.S.

Sound Surgical Technologies (Louisville, Colorado), maker of the Vaser Lipo system, reported that all disposable products will be designed and manufactured in the U.S. Sound Surgical Technologies has partnered with two Colorado-based companies, IPAX and Front Range Tooling, to produce the new Vaser system tubing and canister products.

"We are thrilled to bring the disposables business and associated manufacturing jobs back to Colorado and look forward to a successful partnership with our new domestic vendors," said Sound Surgical Technologies CEO Dan Goldberger.

Sound Surgical Technologies focuses on ultrasonic technologies and related techniques for aesthetic surgery.

pSivida Corp. returns to old trading symbol

pSivida (Boston) said that the symbol for its common stock, traded on Nasdaq, has returned to PSDV.

pSivida is a drug-delivery company committed to the biomedical sector and the development of drug delivery products. Retisert is approved for the treatment of uveitis. Vitrasert is FDA-approved for the treatment of AIDS-related CMV Retinitis. Bausch & Lomb owns the trademarks Vitrasert and Retisert. pSivida has licensed the technologies underlying both of these products to Bausch & Lomb.

Z-Medica launches new web site

Z-Medica (Wallingford, Connecticut) has launched a new web site, www.quickclot.com, where versions of QuikClot for various applications — travel, home, sport and pets — are available. These new QuikClot products are safe, effective and easy to use, and cleared by the FDA to rapidly stop bleeding. Now if a bad bleeding injury happens, consumers no longer have to wait for the ambulance. Just rip open the package and follow simple package instructions. The products are non-allergenic and for external use only.

Z-Medica focuses on technologies that stop bleeding and save lives. QuikClot was tested in cooperation with the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps and university hospitals.