• Cook Medical (Miami) reports that the Zilver PTX Paclitaxel-Eluting Stent (DES) trial results demonstrated no stent fractures. Cook said that the major adverse event rate was equivalent to conventional balloon angioplasty treatment at its six-month follow-up point. To reduce or prevent restenosis, the Zilver PTX stent is coated with Paclitaxel, a drug approved for clinical use as an anti-cancer agent. Paclitaxel-coated coronary stents are approved for use in the U.S. to reduce the risk of restenosis of the coronary arteries. Cook produces medical therapies in the fields of radiology, cardiology, urology, endovascular therapy, women’s health, critical care medicine, surgery and soft tissue repair, gastroenterology, bone access, oncology and cellular and genetic treatments.

• Royal Philips Electronics (Andover, Massachusetts) reported the release of its new vital signs monitor, the SureSigns VS3. Designed for use both in and out of the hospital, the monitor is suitable for general care wards, emergency departments, outpatient surgery and urgent care centers. Royal Phillips specializes in medical diagnostic imaging and patient monitoring systems, energy-efficient lighting, personal care and home appliances, and consumer electronics.

• Sigma-Aldrich (St. Louis) has launched the GenomePlex Tissue Whole Genome Amplification (WGA) Kit, the latest addition to the GenomePlex product line and includes all of the reagents needed for extraction and whole genome amplification from as little as 0.1 mg of fresh, frozen or formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue, the company said. The new GenomePlex Tissue WGA kit incorporates an optimized tissue lysis and extraction procedure, which eliminates the need for deparaffinization or DNA purification, according to Sigma-Aldrich. The WGA product can be used in numerous downstream applications, including QPCR, micro-satellite analysis, SNP analysis, Comparative Genomic Hybridization (CGH), microarrays, and other genotyping analysis. Amplification results in microgram quantities of DNA. Sigma-Aldrich is a life science and high technology company. Its biochemical and organic chemical products and kits are used in scientific and genomic research, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical development, the diagnosis of disease and as key components in pharmaceutical and other high technology manufacturing.