A Medical Device Daily

Digital Angel (South St. Paul, Minnesota), focused on the field of identification, location tracking and condition monitoring of high-value assets, and VeriChip (Delray Beach, Florida), a provider of RFID systems for healthcare, said they have established a joint committee to design and develop a working, implantable glucose microchip to determine glucose levels in the bodies of animals and humans, which could negate the need for diabetics to draw blood in order to monitor their individual blood glucose levels.

The committee will oversee future clinical trials in animals and humans, and it will be responsible for selecting technology and marketing partners. The goal for the chip is to function inside the body for a period of at least six months.

The committee is led by Dr. Howard Weintraub, and includes Zeke Mejia, Digital Angel's Animal Applications CTO; Yuri Smirnov, Digital Angel's Animal Applications senior radio frequency engineer, Jonathan Musher, MD, VeriChip's chief medical officer; Kevin McGrath, Digital Angel's president/CEO, and Scott Silverman, VeriChip's CEO/chairman.

Weintraub said, "Following our patent award in October 2006, we are positioned to begin development of a glucose microchip, which has the potential to revolutionize the way people with diabetes live and the medical care they receive.

"There are estimated to be hundreds of millions of people around the world living with diabetes, many of whom are not compliant with their care regimens due in large part to the discomfort and inconvenience of pricking their fingers numerous times per day. This chip could provide a painless way to quickly and accurately scan blood glucose levels to an external reader."

Weintraub, a director of Digital Angel since March 2002, retired from C. R. Bard (Murray Hill, New Jersey) in 2003, where he was VP, R&D.

The implantable biosensor chip will have a passive transponder, a sensor and integrated circuitry that could allow anyone implanted with the microchip to painlessly scan it to determine their blood glucose concentration. The RFID microchip would then be designed to "quickly and accurately" transmit the glucose data back to a wireless scanner that displays the glucose level. The RFID microchip will be powered by the scanner signal, avoiding the need for a battery in the microchip.

The patent, granted in October 2006, is titled "Embedded Bio-Sensor System."

In other agreements:

• Swearingen Software (Houston), a developer of radiology information systems (RIS), reported a partnership with Connect Imaging (Honolulu), a provider of picture archiving and communication systems (PACS). Together the companies will offer customized RIS/PACS solutions.

The partnership comes after years of both companies observing the fact that no RIS/PACS vendor has been able to demonstrate "both a strong PACS and a strong RIS product," the companies said.

Randall Swearingen, CEO and founder of Swearingen Software, said, "Swearingen Software has long been acknowledged in the RIS world for a product that easily adapts to individual customer needs and thus creates a high level of customer satisfaction. We did not want to divert our attention from our successful RIS product in order to design a PACS product.

Swearingen continued, "Connect Imaging enjoys a similar reputation in the PACS world but does not want to lessen its focus on PACS by developing an RIS. By continuing to focus on our respective strengths while strategically integrating our two products, we have created an unprecedented RIS/PACS product that provides the best of both worlds."

According to Philip Manly, CEO of Connect Imaging, the goal in partnering with Swearingen Software is to help radiology departments streamline workflow and improve patient care.

Swearingen Software, founded in 1982, has focused its products on answering the radiology management needs of hospitals and clinics of all sizes. With a HL7 and DICOM connectivity suite, Swearingen's RIS is designed to connect to virtually any other HL7/DICOM ready product.

Connect Imaging offers PACS systems designed to fit the workplace needs and budgets of community hospitals and free-standing imaging centers. The company's software modules allow flexibility in configuration and provide PACS solutions that satisfy customer requirements. Connect Imaging maintains its assembly, testing, and technical support facilities in Pennsylvania.