A Medical Device Daily
Royal Philips Electronics (Chicago) and BrainLAB (Munich, Germany) reported that they will collaborate on the integration of intra-operative angiography and image-guided surgery (IGS)in a pact that will drive the compatibility of these technologies in the operating room (OR) environment.
The companies said that the integration of angiography and IGS will be designed to provide surgeons with real-time information during interventions for more precise surgical procedures. Image-guided intra-operative angiography could enhance both neurosurgery and spinal surgery and extend the classical range of cardiovascular surgery, they said.
BrainLAB will develop interfaces between Philips' angiographic imaging systems and the BrainLAB VectorVision system for the automatic registration of intra-operatively acquired angiographic data so that surgeons can upload data sets into the IGS system without additional manual steps. During surgery, the position of the patient and surgical instruments is tracked in real time through BrainLAB software.
In other agreement news:
• Digirad (Poway, California) has signed a letter of agreement with the University of Chicago Medical Center to deliver cardiac diagnostic services to Chicago-area physicians through Digirad's centers of influence program, which includes seven U.S. academic medical institutions.
Digirad and the medical center will offer services and expertise to primary-care physicians in the Chicago area seeking to expand their practices with in-office imaging. Digirad will bring equipment and personnel into physicians' offices to perform imaging procedures, with the images interpreted by medical center physicians and the results sent electronically to a referring physician.
• Medtronic (Memphis) and Scil Technology (Martinsreid, Germany) reported a development, licensing and supply agreement focused on Scil's biologic recombinant human Growth and Differentiating Factor 5 (rhGDF-5) dental technology for use in bone regeneration for dental implant placement and treatment of periodontal disease. Financial terms are not being disclosed.
Scil will be responsible for all R&D activities; Medtronic will handle clinical trials, regulatory approvals and commercialization.
• National Dentex (Natick, Massachusetts), an owner of dental labs, said it has extended an agreement for exclusive manufacturing and distribution rights to fabricate and market the lab version of the NTI-tss (for nighttime tension suppression system) to Keller Laboratory (Fenton, Missouri) and grants exclusive use of the trademarked name. The NTI-tss, a small, custom-made dental mouthpiece, is FDA-cleared for the prevention and treatment of migraine.
Keller has been the exclusive U.S. manufacturer of the NTI-tss for the past six years, saying that unit sales have grown at an average rate of more than 30% annually.
• Premier Research Group (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) and Octagon Research Solutions (Wayne, Pennsylvania) said the two companies have formalized a partnership to provide broader solutions in the area of electronic submissions.
Premier will offer Octagon's electronic submission capabilities as part of its regulatory affairs services and Octagon will offer Premier's regulatory development and scientific strategy.