A Medical Device Daily

Exactech (Gainesville, Florida), a producer of bone and joint restoration products for hip, knee, shoulder, spine and biologic materials, reported its planned acquisition of a distribution subsidiary in France, along with the opening of a wholly-owned distribution subsidiary in Japan.

Exactech said it will acquire the stock and assets of France Medica (Strasbourg), an importer and distributor of orthopedic products and surgical supplies. The total purchase price is projected to be €6.8 million to 7.1 million.

The purchase price for France Medica will include €5.4 million to be paid upon closing and €1.4 million to 1.7 million in earn-out payments based on the performance of France Medica over the next two years. The closing is expected to be completed in the second quarter.

President David Petty said, “France Medica has been a valuable and key strategic partner for a number of years. In addition to distributing our Optetrak knee system, France Medica also provides hips, shoulders, trauma products and instrumentation sets for clinics and hospitals throughout France.”

He added, “We believe we can better serve our French customers by establishing a direct operation in this important market. France Medica currently employs approximately 25 distribution and sales professionals and we are delighted that key members of France Medica’s existing management team will stay on as part of the new Exactech subsidiary.”

Exactech said it expects France Medica’s full-year 2008 revenues will be about 18 million. It said it expects the transaction to be neutral to earnings in 2008 and accretive in 2009.

Exactech also said it has finalized arrangements to create a direct distribution operation in Japan, where it previously sold its products through a distributor. The direct operation sales and logistics subsidiary, based in Tokyo, will enable Exactech to directly control its Japanese marketing and distribution operations.

The venture will be headed by Kunio Watanabe, an orthopedic marketing executive who has more than 14 years of experience distributing medical products in Japan for U.S. and European companies.

Of the new distribution plan in Japan, Perry said, “We have been selling products in Japan through a distributor agreement for over a decade. This new arrangement will allow for continuation of this important relationship while also creating an opportunity for Exactech to expand its market presence in Japan with a new team of seasoned orthopedic sales professionals in the direct operation.”

He added, “We are enthusiastic about expanding our global presence in the orthopedic market.”

The company noted that France and Japan are two of the largest orthopedic device markets outside the U.S.

Exactech markets orthopedic implant devices, related surgical instruments, and biologic materials and services to hospitals and physicians. The company sells its products in the U.S. and Australia, in addition to more than 25 countries in Europe, Asia and Latin America.

Inverness eyes closing of UK facility

Inverness Medical Innovations (IMI; Waltham, Massachusetts), a developer of rapid point-of-care diagnostic products that has been expanding rapidly via acquisitions in the past year or so, reported its intention to close its joint-venture Unipath facility in Bedford, UK.

The company plans to transfer its Bedford manufacturing operations to its low-cost production facilities, which are mainly located in China.

IMI said Unipath will begin discussions with employee representatives as part of a consultation process required under British law. Inverness said it anticipates that the closure and transfer could be completed by year-end 2009.

During the second half of 2007, Unipath manufactured about 53 million tests, of which roughly 46 million were supplied to IMI’s 50/50 consumer diagnostics joint venture.

The intention to move the UK manufacturing operations to other locales represents an acceleration of what Inverness called its “ongoing plans to significantly reduce product cost, increase margins and extend product life cycles for [our] women’s health and professional diagnostic product lines.

Unipath employs more than 400 in the UK. If the intended closure takes place, Inverness Unipath will reduce its current need for 130,000 square feet by approximately 100,000 square feet, and any remaining company business at that site would be relocated elsewhere.

The company said a charge of about $37 million is anticipated for all costs associated with the facility closing, including but not limited to write-off of equipment and leasehold improvements, severance cost and rent obligations through the lease termination in 2011.

It said about 80% of this amount will be borne by the partners in the joint venture and/or their parent companies, with the balance borne solely by Inverness.

Aircraft noise raises blood pressure

Night-time noise from aircraft or traffic can increase a person’s blood pressure even if it does not wake them, according to a study published this month in the European Society of Cardiology’s (ESC; Sophia Antipolis, France) European Heart Journal.

Scientists from Imperial College London and other European institutions monitored 140 sleeping volunteers in their homes near London Heathrow and three other major European airports.

The researchers measured the volunteers’ blood pressure remotely at 15-minute intervals and then analyzed how this related to the noise recorded in the volunteers’ bedrooms.

ESC noted that people with high blood pressure have an increased risk of developing heart disease, stroke, kidney disease and dementia.

The researchers found that volunteers’ blood pressure increased noticeably after they experienced a ‘noise event’ – a noise louder than 35 decibels – such as aircraft traveling overhead, traffic passing outside, or a partner snoring. They said this effect could be seen even if the volunteer remained asleep and so was not consciously disturbed.

Aircraft noise events caused an average increase in systolic blood pressure of 6.2 mmHg and an average increase in diastolic blood pressure of 7.4 mmHg. Similar increases in blood pressure also were seen for other noise sources such as road traffic.

The researchers found that the increase in blood pressure was related to the loudness of the noise, so that a greater increase in blood pressure could be seen where the noise level was higher.