• 3M (St. Paul, Minnesota) has acquired Acolyte Biomedica (Salisbury, UK), a provider of an automated microbial detection platform that aids in the rapid detection and diagnosis of infectious diseases. Deal terms were not disclosed. 3M said that Acolyte gives it a pipeline of rapid culture-based screening tests for microbes, such as MRSA and vancomycin-resistant enterococcus (VRE), by automating traditional culture methodology, resulting in reliable confirmed “negatives” in hours rather than days. The addition of Acolyte enables its expansion more quickly into this market, especially in Europe where Acolyte has commercialized product for MRSA. Acolyte, formed in 2000, manufactures rapid microbiology products and has an exclusive global license to AK Rapid technology, granted from Dstl, for clinical and veterinary use.

• CardioNet (San Diego), a provider of wireless mobile cardiac outpatient monitoring solutions, reported reaching an agreement to acquire PDSHeart (West Palm Beach, Florida), a cardiac event monitoring company. The acquisition — the terms not disclosed — is expected to close this month. PDSHeart’s line of cardiac event monitors and services will be added to CardioNet’s wireless mobile cardiac outpatient monitoring platform, marketed as the CardioNet system. PDSHeart will operate as a CardioNet subsidiary, with corporate offices in West Palm Beach, Florida. CardioNet’s principle monitoring center is in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania.

• Haemonetics (Braintree, Massachusetts), a developer of blood collection technology, acquired the assets of Information Data Management (IDM; Rosemont, Illinois), a developer of software for blood collection agencies, for about $9 million in cash. Haemonetics said IDM’s software for blood collection, blood laboratory operations and services complement its 5D suite of software products and services. IDM markets software aiding customers in blood donor recruitment and management, blood component manufacturing, distribution and laboratory testing. IDM’s operations will remain in the Chicago area.

• Inverness Medical Innovations (Waltham, Massachusetts), a manufacturer of rapid diagnostic products, acquired substantially all of the assets of First Check Diagnostics (Lake Forest, California), a private diagnostics firm, for about $25 million in cash. Inverness also will pay an earn-out to First Check equal to therevenue growth of the acquired products for 2007 and for the first nine months of 2008, as compared to the preceding comparable periods. First Check claims leadership in home testing for drugs of abuse, and it offers tests for alcohol abuse, cholesterol monitoring and colon cancer screening.

Inverness also reported acquiring Promesan (Milan, Italy), a distributor of point-of-care testing products to the Italian marketplace, for about EUR 3.4 million ($4.4 million). IMI said the acquisition marks its first presence in Italy and provides it with an established Italian commercial and distribution network.

• Sequenom (San Diego) has acquired exclusive rights in the U.S., Europe, Australia, Canada and Japan, as well as non-exclusive rights in China, to non-invasive prenatal diagnostic intellectual property from The Chinese University of Hong Kong. The license intellectual adds to Sequenom’s patents related to non-invasive prenatal genetic analysis methods using fetal nucleic acids obtained from maternal serum or plasma, the company said. The acquired rights include methods of fetal nucleic acid analysis using methylation marker and gene expression analysis on a maternal blood, serum or plasma sample. Sequenom also obtained exclusive rights to a portfolio of methylation and nucleic acid markers. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• Tornier (Eden Prairie, Minnesota) will purchase Nexa Orthopedics (San Diego), a manufacturder of orthopedic and podiatric devices, by acquiring 100% of Nexa’s equity. Other terms were not disclosed. Tornier said the purchase represents key expansion of its portfolio for surgeons performing procedures on the extremities (shoulder, arm, hand, foot and ankle) and expand its technology with new implantable device materials and coatings.

• Zimmer Holdings (Warsaw, Indiana) said it will purchase privately held Endius (Plainville) in a cash transaction, the amount undisclosed. Endius, a maker of minimally invasive spine products, will become a Zimmer subsidiary, with the transaction to be about 2 cents dilutive per share in 2007. Founded in 1997, Endius’ key products include the Atavi atraumatic spine surgery system, TiTLE 2 pedicle screw system and the Minit upper thoracic fixation and posterior cervical system. Another key product line, according to Zimmer, is the NorthStar cannulated screw delivery system, an implant and instrument pedicle screw system which can be used for all open and minimally invasive lumbar rod fixation procedures. Zimmer said it intends to maintain Endius’ current operations in Plainville, Massachusetts, while it works to integrate the company into its existing Zimmer Spine business unit. Endius has about 40 employees.