Synthetic Blood International (Costa Mesa, California) said it will ask shareholders to approve a name change, among other issues in the proxy statement that is being mailed early next week pertaining to a shareholder meeting scheduled for June 17. The new name proposed is Oxygen Biotherapeutics.

Shareholders also will be asked to approve a change in the company's state of incorporation and an increase in the number of authorized shares.

The reason for the name change relates to the development direction of the company's lead product, Oxycyte. "We have several biotherapeutic solutions in the making, yet none of them is synthetic blood," said Chairman/CEO Chris Stern. "We are currently focusing on traumatic brain injury, sickle cell pain crisis, wound treatment (OTC device and clinical), organ transport, heart attack, stroke, and, as a long shot, spinal cord injury. Adopting a new name will better reflect the broader scope of our development activities."

Oxycyte is the company's perfluorocarbon therapeutic oxygen carrier and blood substitute.

VeriChip to launch new marketing campaign

VeriChip (Delray Beach, Florida) will launch its first-ever direct-to-consumer (DTC) marketing campaign in South Florida on April 28. As part of the campaign, the company has renamed its patient identification system Health Link and created a new website at www.healthlinkinfo.com that will go live at the campaign launch. The site will provide complete information about the product and how to enroll as a Health Link member.

VeriChip also has entered into a relationship with HearUSA (Palm Beach, Florida), a provider of hearing care, which has eight HEARx locations throughout the Palm Beach market where patients can enroll in Health Link.

The Health Link microchip stores only a unique 16-digit identification number and is injected just under the skin in the rear upper portion of the right arm. When a Health Link member presents in an emergency department unconscious, unresponsive or confused, emergency medical personnel use the Health Link scanner to retrieve the member's identification number to access his or her personal health record.

HearUSA provides hearing care to patients primarily through more than 190 company-owned hearing care centers, which offer a complete range of quality hearing aids with an emphasis on the latest digital technology.

Orthopedists to change acetabular surfaces

According to a recent study conducted by Millennium Research Group (Waltham, Massachusetts) at last month's American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons annual meeting in San Francisco, physicians said they anticipate changes in their use of different acetabular bearing surfaces over the next 24 months.

Physician feedback indicated that over the next two years, 45% of respondents expect to increase their use of ceramic acetabular components in reconstructive hip implant surgery. Similarly, nearly 30% of respondents indicated they would increase their use of metal acetabular bearing surfaces.

Millennium said concerns related to the release of particulate debris from traditional polyethylene bearings, which leads to implant loosening and joint infections, has created increased interest in alternative bearing surfaces that are constructed from highly cross-linked polyethylene, metal, ceramic, or hybrid materials.

"Surgeons indicated that clinical results and patient needs had the highest impact on their choice of bearing surface," said Andrea Cheng, senior analyst at Millennium. "As a result, over 50% of physicians surveyed used more than one type of acetabular bearing surface to reflect the diverse needs of their patients."

Millennium provides medical technology market intelligence and strategic information to the health caresector.

HeartWare moving manufacturing facility

HeartWare Limited (Framingham, Massachusetts) said that it is moving to an expanded, upgraded manufacturing facility in Miami Lakes, Florida. The 59,000- square-foot facility will enable a scaling up in manufacturing output and is expected to meet all of the company's operational needs indefinitely.

"The decision by Cordis to relocate its neurovascular device manufacturing activities has proven extremely fortuitous for HeartWare," CEO Doug Godshall said.

HeartWare makes miniaturized implantable heart pumps designed to treat patients suffering from advanced heart failure.