A Medical Device Daily

MitoSciences (Eugene, Oregon) and the University of Oregon (UO; Eugene) reported the completion of an exclusive commercial license for a suite of "biotechnology innovations."

The agreement centers on a portfolio of monoclonal antibodies that are being used by MitoSciences to develop tests for cell-based drug toxicity screening, as well as being developed into multiplexing assays used to generate mitochondrial protein biomarkers for diagnostics and personalized medicine. The antibodies also are sold individually and in kits to the life science research market.

UO will receive royalties on patent-related sales, plus fixed quarterly cash payments totaling $4.6 million over 10 years.

"This agreement provides MitoSciences with critical access to essential technology," said Jean-Paul Audette, president of MitoSciences, "and ... it allows MitoSciences to continue to focus on developing the industry-leading mitochondrial research tools for which we are known, and which we hope will have tremendous benefits for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases with metabolic etiologies."

Along with the antibody hybridomas and other biological assets, the university will also transfer to MitoSciences several commercial distribution agreements through which the UO previously delivered antibodies to life-science researchers. MitoSciences will have exclusive commercialization rights for the complete portfolio of transferred biological assets, plus an exclusive license under several university patents that cover the use of monoclonal antibodies that recognize mitochondrial antigens.

Jordan Valley Semiconductors (Migdal Ha'Emek, Israel), a provider of semiconductor metrology solutions, has acquired Bede (Durham, UK), a supplier of HRXRD (High Resolution XRD) metrology for the semiconductor and compound industries with revenues of $11.6M in 2007. Bede entered into the UK's Administration phase, its equivalent of Chapter 11 bankruptcy, on March 31. The purchase price was not disclosed.

"The acquired technology will fit into our product line almost seamlessly and will strengthen [our] position as the market leader in X-ray metrology," said Isaac Mazor, Jordan Valley CEO. "With the consolidated X-ray metrology product line and expanded customer base, Jordan Valley becomes a comprehensive solution provider for current and future semiconductor process control and metrology challenges."

Bede X-Ray Metrology was founded in 1978 as a spin-out company from University of Durham in the UK.

Jordan Valley provides semiconductor metrology solutions for thin films based on non-contacting and non-destructive X-ray technologies.

In other dealmaking news:

• The Blackstone Group has decided to sell its nearly 25% stake in Gerresheimer (Dusseldorf, Germany), according to the company.

In the course of the transaction, led by Credit Suisse, 7.8 million shares will be sold to a variety of institutional investors. Blackstone decided to exit its Gerresheimer investment after Gerresheimer's IPO in June 2007.

"Blackstone made a successful IPO possible and afforded us enormous growth opportunities. With this exit, our free float rises substantially, making our shares even more attractive to the investment community," said Dr. Axel Herberg, CEO of Gerresheimer.

Gerresheimer is a pharmaceutical and life science supply and services company which develops specialty products made of glass and plastic. It owns 41 production sites in Europe, America and Asia and employs about 10,800 worldwide.

• BioHorizons (Birmingham, Alabama) reported the completion of its purchase of Implant Logic Systems (ILS, Cedarhurst, New York), first disclosed at the end of January (Medical Device Daily, Jan. 31, 2008). Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

ILS will operate as a subsidiary of BioHorizons.

"We are excited to expand our product offering to include VIP Virtual Implant Placement planning software and CAD/CAM surgical guides. This acquisition is a key milestone for us as we move the field of implant dentistry into the digital age," said Steve Boggan, CEO of BioHorizons.

ILS is a provider for the implant dentistry market.

BioHorizons, a dentistry implant company, was founded in 1994 as an incubator company at the University of Alabama-Birmingham. The company was bought by HealthpointCapital (New York) in 2006.