>A Diagnostics & Imaging Week Report

MacuChek (West Bloomfield, Michigan) has signed a distribution deal to bring its macular degeneration diagnosis device, the MacuScope, to China. The company reached a distribution agreement with Beijing ABS Science & Technology to license and distribute the MacuScope within three months.

Under the agreement, Beijing ABS will have the exclusive rights to distribute the MacuScope in China, and will provide sales and support staff for all of the products sold under the agreement.

The device measures lack of macular pigment, one of the major contributors to the disease. Macular degeneration is the leading cause of legal blindness in the world.

David Segel, president and CEO of MacuChek, said two other Chinese companies had backed out of earlier distribution deals.

The company said the MacuScope is the first commercially available screening device to assess a patient's risk of developing macular degeneration, sometimes years before symptoms begin.

London office opened by Sunquest

Sunquest Information Systems (Tucson, Arizona), a developer of laboratory information systems, has opened an office in London to serve as its international headquarters.

David Allcock, VP of international sales, will manage the UK office and staff for all sales, business development, service and support functions.

Formerly operating as a business unit specializing in clinical data solutions for Misys Healthcare, Sunquest became a private company again this past October after it was purchased by Vista Equity Partners.

The company said it has an established footprint in the UK, with 17 prominent hospitals and healthcare providers using its Sunquest Laboratory Information System, CoPathPlus Anatomic Pathology System and Radiology Information System.

Sunquest said more than 1,200 hospitals and commercial laboratories are using its products worldwide, and that it is pursuing an "aggressive international growth strategy" through increased sales and marketing activities, new distribution agreements and industry partnerships.