A Medical Device Daily

SpectraScience (San Diego) reported that it has acquired all shares of Luma Imaging (Lexington, Massachusetts). Financial terms were not disclosed.

Luma has FDA approval for a non-invasive optical Cervical Imaging System designed as an adjunct to colposcopy. According to the company, the device can more effectively detect cervical cancer precursors than using conventional means alone.

Luma’s system requires a single-use disposable probe and little additional training because it uses clinicians’ existing skill sets, the company said.

Clinical trials comprised of more than 3,000 women demonstrated the system’s ability to detect over 25% more atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance and low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (ASCUS/LSIL) cancer cell precursors than colposcopy alone, Luma said. These findings often show up as mild abnormalities on Pap tests, it said.

In other dealmaking:

• MediSpectra (Lexington, Massachusetts) reported winning FDA approval of the device as an adjunct to colposcopy in March 2006 (Medical Device Daily, March 30, 2006).

SpectraScience said the acquisition was accounted for as an exchange of the shares of both companies and includes the inventory and the worldwide application for 51 patents, 28 issued, a notice of allowance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on two additional applications and 21 patents pending.

SpectraScience has developed a WavSTAT Optical Biopsy System used by physicians to diagnose tissue to determine if it is normal, pre-cancerous, or cancerous “within seconds.” The WavSTAT is FDA-approved for detecting pre-cancer and cancer in the colon.

A new application for detecting pre-cancers in the throat, called Barrett’s esophagus, is being tested in a clinical trial, the company said. Cancer of the esophagus is more than 90% fatal and may develop as a result of chronic gatroesophageal reflux disease, according to SpectraScience.

“This acquisition gives us two FDA-approved devices for the early detection of colon and cervical cancers,” said Jim Hitchin, CEO of SpectraScience. “Completion of our Barrett’s esophagus trial and FDA approval will give us yet another early cancer detection application. We hope to launch the other applications, such as early detection of lung cancer, using our optical technology in the near future.”

• Medical International Technology (Denver) said it has received a non-refundable deposit of $1.3 million for the worldwide rights to market and sell all of its Needle-Free Jet-Injectors for the human and animal markets.

The company said the deposit is part of an agreement under negotiation, which will be disclosed when final.

• VWR International (West Chester, Pennsylvania), a supplier to the global research lab industry, reported acquiring Omnilabo International (Breda, the Netherlands), a laboratory supply distributor. Omnilabo has 42 employees in Netherlands and Belgium.

Omnilabo was founded in 1979 in the Netherlands and since 2003 has been owned by Nimbus, a Dutch private equity firm. The business has been engaged throughout its history in the distribution of laboratory and clinical consumables, life science reagents and chromatography products.

VWR offers products from a wide range of manufacturers, to a large number of customers in North America, Europe and other locations.

• Private equity firms Linden and Edgewater (Chicago) have bought BarrierSafe Solutions (BSSI; Reno, Nevada), the parent company of Microflex and MicroActive (both Reno).

Microflex develops disposable examination gloves and MicroActive develops anti-microbial technologies for healthcare, food, agricultural, medical, consumer and industrial products.

BSSI supplies health and safety barrier products to the foodservice, emergency medical, dental, laboratory, automotive and industrial markets throughout North America. BSSI also owns FoodHandler (Melville, New York), a provider of gloves and food safety services for the foodservice industry.

• Agilent Technologies (Santa Clara, California) and Velocity11 reported a definitive agreement for Agilent to acquire Velocity11.

Agilent and Velocity11 expect to finalize the deal within 30 to 60 days.

Velocity11 makes robotic solutions that range from standalone instrumentation to bench-top automation solutions to large, multi-armed robotic systems.

Agilent offers automated sample-preparation solutions across a broad range of applications.

• HepaLife Technologies (Boston) said it has entered into an exclusive license agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service for the use of liver cell lines in artificial liver devices and in-vitro toxicological testing platforms. Financial terms were not disclosed.

HepaLife develops cell-based technologies addressing human health concerns.

• SunLink Health Systems (Atlanta) said it received an unsolicited conditional acquisition proposal from Resurgence Health Group (location) offering $7.50 a share in cash for substantially all of its outstanding shares. SunLink declined to comment on the proposal but said that its board would consider and respond to it in a reasonable period of time.

SunLink operates seven community hospitals and related businesses in the Southeast and Midwest.