A Medical Device Daily

IsoTis (Irvine, California), a developer of orthobiologics, reported it has completed the transfer of the rights associated with its PolyActive technology to OctoPlus (Lieden, the Netherlands), a drug delivery and development company, for an up-front payment of about $1.7 million and future royalties on sales of pharmaceutical products based on the PolyActive technology.

IsoTis retains the rights to manufacture and market orthopedic plugs and cement restrictors, including those related to its marketed product SynPlug, based on the PolyActive technology.

IsoTis' current orthobiologics products are bone graft substitutes designed to promote the regeneration of bone and are used to repair natural, trauma-related and surgically-created defects common in orthopedic procedures, including spinal fusions.

OctoPlus focuses on the development of long-acting, controlled release versions of known protein therapeutics and other drugs.

Coherent (Santa Clara, California) reported that it has acquired privately-held Nuvonyx (St. Louis), a maker of high-power (powers in excess of 1 Kilowatt) laser diode components, arrays, and industrial laser systems for materials processing and defense applications.

Nuvonyx says it produces the highest power arrays commercially available with powers in excess of 50 kilowatts through its cooling and stacking technologies. The industrial laser systems are used for cladding and hardening of metals, joining materials, and other materials processing applications. Other near-term applications include welding of plastics and direct metal welding.

Combined with Coherent's capability in laser diode bars, this acquisition represents both a vertically integrated and more cost effective approach than fiber lasers for certain applications.

"The addition of Nuvonyx marks Coherent's entry into the high-power materials processing market, an area with potential for significant long-term growth," said John Ambroseo, president/CEO of Coherent.

Coherent provides photonics-based solutions to the commercial and scientific research markets.

In other dealmaking news:

• Triad Hospitals (Plano, Texas) reported that the U.S. antitrust waiting period associated with its $6.8 billion acquisition by Community Health Systems (CHS; Franklin, Tennessee) has expired. The company also reported that it has set a date of June 12 for the special meeting of stockholders to consider the proposal to adopt the merger agreement with CHS, which was first disclosed in March (Medical Device Daily, March 20, 2007).

The record date for determining the stockholders eligible to vote at the special meeting has been set for May 3.

The companies said they expect to close the merger in 3Q07, subject to stockholder approval and other regulatory approvals.

Triad, through its affiliates, owns and manages hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers in small cities and selected larger urban markets.

• Celera (Rockville, Maryland) and Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (LabCorp; Burlington, North Carolina) have signed an agreement granting LabCorp a license to Celera's breast cancer metastasis and estrogen/progesterone receptor discoveries. The agreement allows LabCorp to select from among Celera's genomic findings to develop and commercialize two molecular oncology laboratory service tests.

LabCorp will pay Celera an up-front license fee and royalties on net sales of laboratory service tests performed by LabCorp that incorporate Celera's discoveries.

LabCorp said it plans to offer one test to help predict the risk of metastasis in early-stage breast cancer patients, and a second test to provide a molecular assessment of hormonal receptor status, which is used to select women for endocrine therapy.

The tests that LabCorp plans to offer, based on Celera's finding, it said, may provide information that is distinct from that predicted by routine clinical assessment tools, such as tumor grade, as well as quantify risk for metastasis for variable time periods rather than only categorically for five or 10 years, the company said. Many of the discoveries licensed to LabCorp are involved in the p53 tumor suppressor signaling pathways and are implicated in cancer proliferation.