• HP (Palo Alto, California) reported introduction of an archiving platform to help healthcare providers, hospitals and imaging clinics meet retention requirements for medical images. HP said that with its medical archive solution (MAS) 3.0, healthcare providers can strengthen their focus on patient care while adhering to compliance regulations by ensuring that medical image data is securely indexed, preserved and accessible. HP MAS 3.0 delivers HP ProLiant servers, HP StorageWorks SAN and MSA disk storage with indexing, policy management and search software to provide long-term retention of medical fixed content. The tiered storage of the MAS grid is designed to help healthcare providers align the business value of images with retention policies.

• Millipore (Billerica, Massachusetts) and Gen-Probe (San Diego) reported the launch of the first product from their collaboration to create faster, more sensitive tests for detecting contaminants in pharma and biotech manufacturing processes. It combines Millipore’s sample prep methodologies with Gen-Probe’s nucleic acid technologies to deliver both speed and sensitivity in one microbial screening tool. The MilliProbe system uses real-time transcription-mediated amplification technology to detect targeted microbial contamination within hours compared to the days or weeks usually required to generate results using traditional culture-based technology. Faster detection allows biopharma manufacturers to take corrective action earlier in the production process, which reduces downstream processing risks, optimizes product yields, and improves final product quality, according to the company. Millipore provides bioscience research and biopharmaceutical manufacturing. Gen-Probe makes nucleic acid tests used to diagnose human diseases and screen donated human blood.

• SpineVision (San Francisco) said that preliminary data from an ongoing post-marketing study show that its FDA-cleared PediGuard device allows a two-fold reduction of the risk of inadvertent pedicle screw misplacement during lumbar degenerative spine surgery. In addition, the preliminary results show that the use of PediGuard leads to a six-fold reduction of medial breaches, and suggest an approximately 10% decrease in average screw-placement time, as well as a reduction of surgeons exposure to radiation by about 30%. According to the company, PediGuard is the first wireless, hand-held instrument capable of accurately detecting changes in tissue type, thus alerting surgeons to potential pedicular or vertebral breaches during pedicle screw site preparation.

• ThromboVision (Houston) said that it has initiated clinical trials of its ThromboGuide (T-Guide) platelet function monitor. The T-Guide consists of a disposable test kit and a point-of-care base unit. The system will help physicians improve their cardiac patients’ lives by individualizing antiplatelet therapy that they use to prevent heart attacks, strokes and stent occlusions. ThromboVision has licensed the patented technology developed by scientists affiliated with the Utah Artificial Heart Institute, Brigham Young University and the University of Utah. ThromboVision develops biomedical diagnostics.