A Medical Device Daily

Masimo (Irvine, California) reported an agreement with Schiller (Zurich, Switzerland) a supplier of electrocardiographs, spirometers, patient monitors and external defibrillators, to integrate the Masimo Rainbow SET technology platform as the foundational technology of choice for all their patient monitoring solutions worldwide.

Masimo Rainbow SET, is an upgradeable noninvasive technology platform featuring the accuracy and reliability of Masimo SET Measure–Through Motion and Low Perfusion pulse oximetry. It measures total hemoglobin and oxygen content (both pending FDA clearance), in addition to carboxyhemoglobin methemoglobin, pleth variability index, oxyhemoglobin, perfusion index (PI) and pulse rate.

The ability to quickly and continuously measure SpHb, SpOC, SpMet, SpCO, PVI, SpO₂, PR, and PI noninvasively may help clinicians to save lives by more rapidly diagnosing potentially life–threatening conditions, speeding treatment decisions and improving patient outcomes. SpHb may make hemoglobin testing quick, convenient and accessible to medical personnel in both acute and outpatient settings — enabling them to quickly identify conditions of anemia, or blood loss. The availability of real–time continuous SpOC may help to ensure optimal oxygen delivery in patients during rapidly–changing clinical situations.

By continuously and noninvasively monitoring methemoglobin, clinicians can accurately determine if drugs they are administering are causing methemoglobinemia, which can lead to brain damage and even death.

In other agreements:

• WakeMed Health & Hospitals (Raleigh, North Carolina) reported a partnership with RadarFind (Raleigh), a healthcare technology company offering a Real Time Location System (RTLS) that uses a platform technology for tracking medical equipment and patients.

WakeMed Cary Hospital will be implementing the RadarFind system while also serving as a development partner and research facility for RadarFind engineers to further advance the company's technology platform. The partnership is in keeping with WakeMed Health & Hospital's vision of providing both high quality patient care and healthcare technological leadership.

In addition to the technological focus of the partnership, WakeMed will be using the RadarFind RTLS to track their inventory of medical equipment, enhance patient care by efficiently locating medical equipment, reduce costs on equipment purchases and maintenance, and develop best practices for infection control.

The indoor tracking system determines the location of mobile medical equipment throughout the hospital and displays this information via the hospital staff's computer screens, enabling nurses to spend time caring for patients instead of searching the hospital for equipment such as IV pumps, wheelchairs and stretchers.

RadarFind is a healthcare technology company.

• Metabolon (Research Triangle Park, North Carolina) and the Harvard–Partners Center for Genetics and Genomics (HPCGG; Boston), a program dedicated to promoting genetics and genomics in research and clinical medicine, reported that they have signed an agreement to develop an improved diagnostic test for enabling a more accurate dosing of warfarin. Warfarin is a blood thinning agent prescribed extensively during the last 50 years, causes more than 700,000 adverse events per year due to improper dosing.

There are several academic and commercial efforts currently underway, including the Partners CROWN trial aimed at examining the effectiveness of stratifying patients for warfarin dosing based on a patient's genetics. Now, in addition to studying the impact of genetics on warfarin dosing, HPCGG seeks to also examine whether a patient's metabolomic profile might also increase the likelihood of dosing warfarin correctly.

Metabolon also said that Partners HealthCare (Boston) investigators have received preferred access to Metabolon's global biochemical profiling platform. Metabolon currently provides these services to the top pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies as well as other agriculture, consumer product and bioprocessing organizations. These services provide for the extraction, identification and quantitation of hundreds of small molecule biochemicals in a given biological sample. Significantly altered metabolites are then highlighted in extensive biochemical interpretation provided by Metabolon scientists.

Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Metabolon is a diagnostics and services company.

• Smiths Medical ASD (Rockland, Massachusetts) reported that it has signed multi–year supply agreements with MedAssets Supply Chain Systems (Alpharetta, Gerogia) covering five categories of anesthesia medical supplies. The agreements, which are effective on May 1, name Smiths Medical as a supplier for anesthesia products and make the company's line of anesthesia products available to MedAssets' customers nationwide.

The agreement covers five categories of anesthesia medical supplies including: Portex brand anesthesia breathing systems, face masks, and esophageal stethoscopes; SODASORB carbon dioxide absorbent; Portex, Bivona, and Blue Line brand intubation products, endobroncheal tubes, endotrachial tubes; and Portex and Thermovent HME's and filters.

• MedAssets Supply Chain Systems (Alpharetta, Georgia) has awarded Laerdal Medical (Stavanger, Norway) a multi–year contract for "Training, Education and Therapy Products." The contract is effective January 1 through December 31, 2010.