A Medical Device Daily

Iris International (Chatsworth, California) reported yesterday that it plans to close the operations of its wholly owned Advanced Digital Imaging Research (ADIR) subsidiary.

The company said the ADIR's costs had previously been "substantially covered" by government-sponsored grants but that it no longer qualifies, due to new guidelines under the Small Business Administration (SBA).

C sar Garc a, president/CEO of IRIS, said the closing would result in a one-time termination charge of less than $200,000 in 2Q but that it will save about $800,000 in annual salaries and overhead. Iris said it will continue to own all intellectual property, equipment and prototypes of ADIR, and "will seek to monetize these over some period of time."

Garcia said: "In addition to the suspension of government funding, the 3-D facial recognition technology which ADIR had been developing would have taken at least another two years at best to develop a commercial product capable of screening individuals at airports and other security checkpoints. Further, the present market for 3D facial recognition is practically non-existent, and it would likely take years to develop a 3-D database and obtain government appropriations to implement these systems."

He added that Iris maintains a significant R&D effort "focused directly on our current and expanding product lines and will continue this applied research effort, but does not intend to support pure research activities aimed at furthering science not directly useful to the parent company and its mission."

Kenneth Castleman, former president of ADIR, has retired but will continue as a company consultant.

Iris makes devices, diagnostic systems and consumables.