• Biosite (San Diego) reported the addition of McKesson (San Francisco) to its distributor network. Biosite's product offering for physicians treating outpatients is the Triage BNP Test, designed to aid in the diagnosis and assessment of heart failure and in the risk stratification of patients with acute coronary syndromes and/or heart failure.

• CDW Healthcare (Vernon Hills, Illinois), a provider of technology products and services to healthcare organizations, said it has signed an agreement with Barco (Kortrijk, Belgium) to build and distribute integrated medical imaging solutions based upon Barco medical displays, Barco advanced visualization software solutions and workstations from HP and IBM. The companies said this product package provides advanced visualization and analysis of CT, MR and PET images and will be available for the first time to a Barco distribution partner through CDW Healthcare. In addition to the imaging package, CDW Healthcare also will offer Barco's Nio and Coronis LCD display lines.

• Fresenius Medical Care (Bad Homburg, Germany) reported entering into an agreement with Health IT Services Group (Waltham, Massachusetts) to license its web-based electronic health record (EHR) for nephrologists in the U.S. to be marketed as Fresenius Medical Care CKD Solutions. Health IT will provide training to physician practice groups using the software including ongoing support services.

• Greatbatch (Clarence, New York) and St. Jude Medical (St. Paul, Minnesota) reported entering into an amended supplier partnering agreement, extending the current agreement between them through 2013 and establishing Greatbatch as the exclusive supplier of battery technology and the supplier of filtered feedthrough technology to St. Jude. The amendment provides for year-over-year price reductions on both technologies through collaboration on manufacturing and supply chain efficiencies. The parties have also agreed to jointly develop new technologies, including the introduction of a low-cost power solution to support future market requirements with an implementation date of no later than 2009.

• HealthTronics (Austin, Texas) reported the completion of a long-term supply and development agreement with Lisa Laser OHG (Katlenburg, Germany) and Lisa Laser USA (Pleasanton, California), including exclusive rights in the U.S. for the RevoLix surgical laser and holmium laser technology. In addition, the agreement includes a right of first refusal for all future laser technology with urology applications.

• iCAD (Nashua, New Hampshire), a provider of computer-aided detection (CAD) solutions for the early identification of cancer, reported the integration of technology developed and licensed from the National Institutes of Health, into the company's emergent colon CAD product line. Under a licensing agreement, iCAD has incorporated polyp detection technology, developed at the NIH, into iCAD product offerings in the field of CT Colonography (CTC) now under development.

• IRIS International (Chatsworth, California) reported that it has signed a 40-month agreement with Premier Purchasing Patners, a unit of Premier (San Diego), for its iQ200 Automated Urine Microscopy Analyzer and Systems, and has expanded its relationship to include IRIS' entire in vitro diagnostics product line. The agreement is for the full iQ200 product line and service agreements.

• NxStage Medical (Lawrence, Massachusetts), maker of the NxStage System One portable kidney dialysis machine, and Renal Advantage (Brentwood, Tennessee), which says it is the fourth largest provider of dialysis services in the U.S., reported collaborations intended to expand access to home hemodialysis therapies. The companies will work to increase the availability of home hemodialysis therapy and will collaborate on therapy development in selected markets that Renal Advantage serves.

• Symmetry Medical (Warsaw, Indiana), a provider of products to the orthopedic device industry, reported a partnership with Solstice Medical (Fort Wayne, Indiana), a supplier of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. Symmetry's surgical instruments and cases can be embedded with Solstice RFID technology. The technology includes Solstice RFID engineering, bio-engineered RFID tags, site and enterprise tracking software, hardware, integration, maintenance and support.

• Tornier (Eden Prairie, Minnesota), which focuses on extremities orthopedics, reported that it has entered into a partnership with Bioretec (Tampere, Finland), a biomaterials company. The partnership establishes Nexa Orthopedics, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tornier, as the exclusive distributor in the U.S. for a line of bioresorbable surgical devices to be manufactured by Bioretec. The new line by Nexa will include pin and screw fixation systems for use by extremity physicians to repair and treat a range of bone and joint disorders including fractures and arthritis. Nexa will market these products under its NexFix Resorbable Fixation System brand.