Implant Sciences (Wakefield, Massachusetts) reported that it had completed the first phase of its plans for exiting the radioactive prostate seeds business, which included a major reduction of staffing in this business segment. Additionally, the company announced it has reduced the size of its employee base in other areas of activity.

The company has discontinued sales and manufacturing of its I-Plant radioactive prostate seeds and exited the business by successfully selling a portion of its assets to an unnamed medical device manufacturer for about $350,000. Additionally, the company is pursuing the sale of other operating assets associated with the prostate seeds business, the terms of which are still under negotiation. As a result of the divestiture of this business unit, which contributed less than $2 million in annual revenues and operated at a loss, combined with other cutbacks, the company said it has significantly reduced its overall cost structure.

AMA recommends that RFID helps patients

VeriChip (Delray Beach, Florida), a provider of RFID systems, said that the AMA's Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs has adopted a policy stating that implantable radio frequency identification (RFID) devices may help to identify patients, thereby improving the safety and efficiency of patient care, and may be used to enable secure access to patient clinical information.

VeriChip has the only FDA-cleared RFID implantable microchip for patient identification and health information purposes. VeriChip anticipates that the AMA's recommendation will enhance the company's marketing efforts by accelerating the adoption by hospitals of the VeriMed Patient Identification System and increasing the profile of the VeriChip among the medical community.