• CardioNet (San Diego), a provider of wireless mobile cardiac outpatient monitoring solutions, reported that it has agreed to acquire PDSHeart (West Palm Beach, Florida), a cardiac event monitoring company. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. PDSHeart’s line of cardiac event monitors and related services will be added to CardioNet’s wireless mobile cardiac outpatient monitoring platform, marketed as the CardioNet system. The combined company is currently serving patients in 49 states. PDSHeart will operate as a CardioNet subsidiary, with its corporate offices in West Palm Beach, Florida. CardioNet’s principle monitoring center is in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania.

• CardioTech International (Wilmington, Massachusetts), a developer of devices for cardiovascular, orthopedic, oncology and other diseases, reported hiring Silverwood Partners, an investment banking firm, to identify purchasers of its Gish Biomedical (Rancho Santa Margarita, California) unit and to manage the sale. Gish, which CardioTech acquired in 2003, designs disposable devices for cardiovascular surgery, orthopedics and oncology. At the time of the purchase in 2003, CardioTech said the addition of Gish provided it with a leadership in the high-visibility, open-heart surgery field and advanced its strategy of expanding the breadth of FDA-cleared products it provides to hospitals. All of Gish’s products are single-use disposable products or have a disposable component.

• Corautus Genetics (Atlanta) reported that it is combining with VIA Pharmaceuticals (San Francisco), a privately held drug development company. The companies believe the merger will create a drug development company focused on compounds that target inflammation in the blood vessel wall as an innovative approach to the treatment of cardiovascular disease. Corautus’ merger comes after it reported in November that it was abandoning further clinical trials of VEGF-2 for the treatment of cardiovascular and peripheral vascular disease. Corautus will issue, and VIA stockholders will receive, shares of Corautus common stock in exchange for their shares of VIA stock. It is expected that VIA stockholders will own about 76.4% and existing Corautus stockholders will own about 23.6% of the combined company on a pro forma, fully-diluted basis based on the delivery of $12 million of net cash at closing. The transaction is expected to close in 2Q07.

• Trevi Health Ventures and Peter Hinchliffe reported the formation of Interventional & Surgical Innovations (ISI; New York), a company that will develop early-stage medical device technologies with an initial focus on cardiovascular products. ISI said it will work to transition early-stage technologies into viable products. Trevi will provide funding through the proof-of-concept stage, with the goal of spinning out products in which it will have significant equity stakes and continue ongoing funding, it said. Hinchliffe, a medical device entrepreneur with expertise in interventional, cardiac and vascular surgery, will manage ISI. ISI also reported a relationship with Professor Frans Moll, as clinical advisor, to aid in the development of a suite of surgical and interventional technologies through licenses for a number of products under development. Moll is a vascular surgeon based at Utrecht University (Utrecht, the Netherlands), involved in several technology introductions over the years, the company said.

• Johnson & Johnson (J&J; New Brunswick, New Jersey) reported that it has consummated its $1.4 billion acquisition of Conor Medsystems (Menlo Park, California), a developer of controlled vascular drug delivery technologies, primarily drug-eluting stents to treat coronary artery disease. The closing of the deal comes after Conor’s stockholders approved the acquisition in early February. In the deal, first disclosed in November, Conor stockholders are entitled to receive $33.50 for each share of their common stock. Conor’s CoStar stent provides for drug elution from a cobalt chromium stent with an bioabsorbable polymer and uses a site-specific drug delivery technology. The CoStar is currently sold outside the U.S., and enrollment in its U.S. pivotal clinical trial has been completed, with the company expecting an approval in late 2007 or early 2008. It received the CE mark last February.

• MIV Therapeutics (MIVT; Atlanta), a developer of biocompatible coatings and drug delivery systems for cardiovascular stents and other implantable devices, reported completing its purchase of Biosync Scientific (Gujarat, India), a developer of interventional cardiology products, that deal first disclosed in December. Biosync gives MIVT a bare metal stent (BMS) platform. Its stainless steel and thin-strut cobalt chromium stents are CE-marked and approved in other countries that recognize the CE Mark. MIVT has not disclosed the value of this deal. MIVT said it will use Biosync’s platform as the BMS platform for its biocompatible polymer-free drug-eluting stents (DES). MIVT said the acquisition of Biosync is the latest step in its plan “to become a world leader in the $8 billion-plus interventional cardiology market.” MIVT also recently signed an agreement to acquire Vascore Medical (Suzhou City, China), a manufacturer of interventional cardiology devices