A Medical Device Daily

Healthnostics (New York), a medical and biotechnology information and technology company, reported that it has consummated its previously disclosed acquisition of a "significant interest" in Global Medical Direct (GMD; Lenexa, Kansas), a nationwide durable medical equipment provider specializing in direct-to-consumer diabetes supplies.

The acquisition, paid for with Healthnostics Rule 144 restricted common stock, constituted about 40% of the outstanding common stock on a fully diluted basis, the company said.

FASgen Diagnostics (Baltimore) and Tetracore (Rockville, Maryland) reported a collaboration to produce cGMP ELISA and IHC tests for cancer biomarkers using FASgen's proprietary antibodies. The tests are designed to measure the over-expression of the enzyme fatty acid synthase (FAS), which is found in virtually all solid tumor cancers. FASgen's FAS-detect Elisa and FAS-detect IHC tests, currently available for research purposes, have demonstrated "repeated and highly significant success" in identifying the progression of the disease in a series of different solid tumors, including, pancreas, ovarian, prostate and lung cancer, FASgen said.

FASgen and Tetracore have been working together for six years and this deal expands the antibody and kit production role to Tetracore's FDA approved GMP production facility. Tetracore has previously been the primary source of certain new proprietary FASgen antibodies that form the core of the FAS-detect Elisa and FAS-detect IHC tests. Tetracore also has been given the opportunity to invest in FASgen.

Scientists at FASgen are part of the consortium of researchers at Johns Hopkins Medical School (Baltimore) who have been studying the role of over-expression of fatty acid synthase in cancer. That work has been under way for more than 15 years. FASgen Diagnostics is the sister company to FASgen, a drug development company developing therapeutics for the treatment of cancer based on the selective inhibition of fatty acid synthase.

Tetracore is dedicated to the creation of diagnostic reagents and assays for infectious diseases and bioterrorism threat agents.

In other dealmaking activity:

• The board of directors of the University of New Mexico Medical Group (Albuquerque, New Mexico) said it has signed a letter of intent to negotiate exclusively with Legacy Hospital Partners (Plano, Texas) to build a new acute-care teaching hospital in Sandoval County. The new facility will be west of the Rio Grande River. The preferred site for the project is on the new University of New Mexico campus in Rio Rancho, assuming all site requirements can be resolved.

UNMMG is the practice plan organization for physicians and other medical providers associated with the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center.

Legacy is a privately held company established in January to own, operate and manage acute-care hospitals in small cities and select urban markets throughout the U.S. Affiliates of private equity firm CCMP Capital Advisors and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board as well as members of management own Legacy.

• Genworth Financial (Richmond, Virginia) said it has agreed to acquire CareScout (Wellesley, Massachusetts), a provider of long-term-care support services, for $12.5 million.

CareScout has been a Genworth vendor for the past 10 years. The company says it connects families to "appropriate" providers through its extensive data on nursing homes, assisted living facilities and home care agencies. In addition to its facility rating system, CareScout says it delivers decision-making tools and care-coordination services including in-home assessments, plan-of-care development and ongoing care coordination "to ensure consumers receive appropriate care and services as their needs change."

The deal is expected to close in June.

Genworth is a Fortune 500 global financial security company with $114 billion in assets.