Predictive medicine company PreMD (Toronto) said that it will appeal the recent decision made by Amex to delist its stock on the exchange. During the appeal determination process, the company's stock will continue to trade on the Amex under the symbol PME. PreMD also continues to trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol PMD.

"We believe that our plans will allow PreMD to meet every objective standard for continued listing of its common stock on the American Stock Market and we look forward to the opportunity to present our appeal of the proposed delisting," said Brent Norton, president/CEO of PreMD.

Genitope gets Nasdaq deficiency letter

Genitope (Fremont, California) said that it received a staff deficiency letter from the Nasdaq Stock Market indicating that, for the last 30 consecutive trading days, Genitope's common stock has not maintained a minimum market value of publicly held shares of $5 million as required for continued inclusion on the Nasdaq Global Market under Marketplace Rule 4450(a)(2).

In accordance with Marketplace Rule 4450(e)(1), Genitope was given 90 calendar days, or until Sept. 3, to regain compliance. The letter also indicated that, if, at any time before Sept. 3 the market value of the publicly held shares of Genitope's common stock is $5 million or greater for a minimum of 10 consecutive trading days, Nasdaq will provide written notification that the company complies with the rule.

The letter further indicated that, if Genitope does not regain compliance by Sept. 3, Nasdaq will provide written notification that Genitope's common stock will be delisted, after which Genitope may appeal the staff determination to the Nasdaq Listing Qualifications Panel.

Swedish to open new orthopedic facility

Swedish Medical Center (Seattle) will admit its first patients on June 23 in the new, $140 million Orthopedic Institute at 601 Broadway on Seattle's First Hill.

The 372,000-square-foot Swedish Orthopedic Institute (SOI) has 11 stories - five floors devoted to patient care, two for medical offices and four of underground parking. Key elements include: 84 new inpatient beds (28 on each of three floors); 10 dedicated orthopedic operating rooms; 15 pre-operating/stage-2 recovery beds; 13 post-anesthesia care unit beds; outpatient pharmacy; and pre-admission areas, conference rooms and a cafe.

Gambro BCT to change name to CaridianBCT

Gambro BCT (Lakewood, Colorado) said it changed its legal name to CaridianBCT on July 14.

"CaridianBCT is built on a 44-year tradition of partnering with customers to provide superior products, services and technology," said President/CEO David Perez. "Our vision, 'for better blood and better lives' is accomplished by being a leading global provider of products and services in automated blood collections, therapeutic systems, whole blood processes and pathogen reduction technologies."

The company specializes in the blood bank technology industry, investing in research and development focused on enhancing blood quality, safety, supply and efficiency.

Microspheres safe for colorectal cancer treatment

Radioactive microspheres appear to be a safe and effective treatment for patients with colorectal cancer that has spread to the liver and who have failed available chemotherapy options, according to the results of a prospective clinical study presented at the 44th American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) conference.

The multicenter Phase II study was conducted by the Italian Society of Locoregional Therapies in Oncology (SITILO) using SIR-Spheres, which are tiny resin microspheres labeled with radioactive yttrium-90. SIR-Spheres are made by Sirtex (North Ryde, Australia).

"These results demonstrate that SIR-Spheres is a promising therapy for patients with colorectal cancer liver metastases who have failed chemotherapy," said Maurizio Cosimelli, professor of surgery at the Regina Elena National Cancer Institute in Rome and coordinator of the study.

"The prolonged 13-month median survival in the SITILO study compares favorably with the clinical trial results of second- or third-line chemotherapy," he said, "even though three-quarters of our patients had previously received at least four different combinations of chemotherapy drugs and therefore had a poor prognosis with no other treatment options available."

Selective Internal Radiation Therapy (SIRT) is a non-surgical outpatient therapy that uses radioactive microspheres, called SIR-Spheres, to deliver radiation directly to the site of the liver tumors.