A Medical Device Daily

Biofield (King of Prussia, Pennsylvania) reported that closing documents have been executed for Worldwide Lifecare Ltd. (Carelife), the company's new Chinese national healthcare joint venture.

The Carelife j-v will provide Biofield's breast cancer technology and other comprehensive medical technology and services in China.

Carelife will open a Chinese network of medical clinic centers, call centers and data centers for R&D. The first medical clinic center will open in October at Carelife's China headquarters in Shanghai.

In partnership with China's National Labor Union and funded with an investment by Chinese governments and others of about $363 million, Carelife will open more than 500 medical clinics by 2012 at different labor union centers covering 60% of China's urban population.

Biofield said the network will be part of China's national program to instill best healthcare management practices and address problems related to its aging population.

Carelife will provide the Biofield Diagnostic System (BDS), a device for detecting breast cancer in a non-invasive procedure, along with technology of other companies, through this national network.

The clinics also will introduce BDS to hospitals and government-owned medical care units for China's general population. Carelife's target diagnostic penetration rate in urban China is 20%, representing at least 25 million diagnoses per year by 2012.

The Carelife j-v also will help arrange for the BDS device to be manufactured in China.

In response to the demand in China for quality elderly healthcare, Carelife also will develop the first medical and elderly care integrated community in China. The community will be set up on a 450-acre site in Shanghai.

The joint venture was arranged by the MacKay Group (Hong Kong), a global investment firm.

New reimbursement code for NO tests

Aerocrine (Solna, Sweden) said that a new reimbursement code has been issued for exhaled nitric oxide (NO) tests in the Czech healthcare system.

Healthcare providers using exhaled NO to measure airway inflammation, the root cause of asthma, will receive payment of €13.50 per test from April 2008. The reimbursement (code 27270) allows physicians to use exhaled NO tests to more accurately diagnose patients with asthma and to better control their asthma symptoms.

The use of anti-inflammatory therapy, such as inhaled corticosteroids, forms a cornerstone in asthma treatment. Inflammation monitoring made possible by exhaled nitric oxide measurements allows care providers to predict drug response.

The test also can be used to monitor the effects of treatment and to adjust to the correct dose. A rise in the exhaled NO value may indicate that the patient is not adhering to the prescribed anti-inflammatory treatment or that the disease is worsening.

By regular monitoring of airway inflammation through exhaled NO measurements, the management and care of asthma patients may be dramatically improved, the company said, leading to more cost-effective treatment.

Aerocrine said its NIOX MINO Airway Inflammation Monitor permits non-invasive, quick and easy-to-perform eNO measurements.

Another BSD-2000 installed in China

BSD Medical (Salt Lake City) said that another BSD-2000 hyperthermia system is now in use in China, at the Liaocheng Peoples Hospital located in Liaocheng City, in western Shandong Province.

Liaocheng Peoples Hospital has recently added a 19-floor building equipped with the most latest cancer imaging and therapy devices available. The hospital is the main cancer center to a city of more than 5.5 million.

The 2,000-bed hospital said it is "enthusiastic" about the addition of the advanced capabilities of the BSD-2000 to treat deep cancers as part of its cancer arsenal.

BSD Medical said the new BSD-2000 unit in Liaocheng "delivers precision-focused RF energy into cancerous tumors, including those located deep in the body, raising the tumor temperature to levels used to administer hyperthermia therapy and destroy cancer cells with heat along with increasing the effectiveness of radiation therapy."

Liaocheng Peoples Hospital plans to treat cervical cancer and other pelvic cancers as well as research the treatment of lung cancer with the BSD-2000 system. Lung cancer cases continue to increase in many parts of the world, and it is the most prevalent cancer in China.

Hyperthermia therapy is used to kill cancer directly and increase the effectiveness of companion radiation treatments for certain tumors.

Commonwealth Bio expands into Japan

Commonwealth Biotechnologies (Richmond, Virginia) reported its expansion into Japan through Venturepharm (Asia), with the opening of a new Tokyo office and appointment of Mikio Taniguchi as regional business development manager. The new office will focus on supplying business development and localized customer service to the Japanese pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry.

"This new office, our first in Japan, marks CBI's growth into one of the major world markets for pharmaceutical and biotechnology R&D," said Paul D'Sylva, CEO of CBI. "Adding this office allows us to offer our Japanese customers the added benefit of expert local client support and project management from one of the premier contract discovery research services organizations in the world, providing compound screening, medicinal, computational and synthetic chemistry capabilities and related bioanalytical services."

Commonwealth Biotechnologies is a contract research organization.

Second sales office in China for Cynosure

Cynosure (Westford, Massachusetts), manufacturer of a broad array of light-based aesthetic treatment systems, reported the opening of its second sales office in China.

Located in the Chao Yang District of Beijing, the office will be headed by Aileen Ren, vice general manager of sales and marketing for Cynosure China, the company's wholly owned subsidiary.

Cynosure also has a sales office in Suzhou, located about an hour northwest of Shanghai.