A Medical Device Daily

Vemics (New York), a provider of hosted, real-time learning and productivity portals, said it and Microsoft (Redmond, Washington) have signed a Microsoft HealthVault Solution Provider agreement.

Microsoft launched HealthVault, a software and services platform aimed at helping patients manage and collect their personal health information, last fall (Medical Device Daily, Oct. 10, 2007).

Vemics said its iMedicor Electronic Health Record Transport (EHRT) portal will give HealthVault subscribers a user-friendly conduit for patient-physician communication as well as expedited access to their medical records and images.

“From the chronically or serious ill to those needing second opinions or emergency procedures, this strategic relationship can help facilitate a better quality of medical care by enhancing the level of communication between patients and their doctors,” said Tom Dorsett, president of healthcare solutions for Vemics.

“Improved communications between physicians and their patients is a critical step in empowering consumers to better manage their health and wellness,” said Peter Neupert, corporate VP for the Health Solutions Group at Microsoft. “Using Microsoft HealthVault, iMedicor will provide a central place for people and their caregivers to privately collect and share medical information, leading to better outcomes through a more collaborative and informed approach to health.”

According to the companies, the new Microsoft HealthVault-iMedicor relationship will allow HealthVault users to open up an iMedicor account through which they can communicate securely and electronically directly with their physicians.

Also, physicians with HealthVault user permission will be able to access information from the patient’s HealthVault account to upload test results, X-rays, MRIs, and other images in order to communicate and collaborate on treatment. Vemics will be listed in HealthVault’s provider page as a partner. iMedicor users also will be able to open up a HealthVault account to deposit or extract personal health information.

The iMedicor portal, which went live on Oct. 10, is a free, HIPAA-compliant online personal health data exchange and secure messaging portal for physician collaboration, community and referrals.

In other agreements:

• American Bio Medica (ABMC; Kinderhook, New York) reported a distribution agreement with Devor Global in the Republic of Panama.

Devor has been granted the exclusive right to distribute ABMC’s Rapid STAT oral fluid drug test and its Rapid TOX Cup urine-based drug test in Latin America, subject to achieving and maintaining annual volume requirements. Devor also has been granted the non-exclusive right to distribute the rest of ABMC’s product lines within the territories of Latin America.

ABMC is a biotechnology company that makes accurate, cost-effective immunoassay diagnostic test kits.

• Freedom Meditech (San Diego), a developer of a non-invasive ocular glucose measurement technology for diabetics, reported an agreement with Battelle (Columbus, Ohio) to begin developing a device for use in FDA-compliant pilot human clinical studies.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

Battelle will perform various optical engineering and product design initiatives for Freedom’s planned FDA-compliant pilot human clinical studies. Freedom will support the collaboration with its existing engineering operations in California.

Freedom is a developmental-stage company focused on technologies for the management of diabetes.

Battelle’s Global Health and Life Sciences business delivers R&D services to solve complex challenges for government health agencies and medical device, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical firms.

Seacoast is a nationwide provider of laboratory and financial systems as well as support and customized software solution to the commercial laboratory industry.

• Microchip Biotechnologies (MBI; Dublin, California) said it is collaborating with Stanford University (Stanford, California) to develop a front-end, microfluidic-based sample preparation system to generate template libraries for next generation Pyrosequencing. The goal of the project is to automate the complex, multi-step upstream template production using MBI’s Microscale-On-chip-Valves for Superscalar Pyrosequencing.

MBI is a private, early-stage company developing advanced programmable fluidic sample preparation and analytical instrumentation for life sciences, applied sciences and diagnostics markets.

• Touch Bionics (Livingston, UK), developer of the I-LIMB bionic hand, and Southern Prosthetic Supply (SPS; Alpharetta, Georgia) reported a distribution agreement for the prosthetic device in the U.S.

The agreement was reported at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthotists and Prosthetists (AAOP; Alexandria, Virginia) in Orlando, Florida, where both companies are exhibiting.

• Seacoast Laboratory Data Systems (Portsmouth, New Hampshire) reported an agreement with Heartland Pathology Consultants (Edmond, Oklahoma) to install and maintain Seacoast’s premier revenue cycle management system SurroundLab AR.

Heartland is an independent anatomic pathology laboratory serving Oklahoma and surrounding states.