A Medical Device Daily
Alphatec Holdings (Carlsbad, California), a maker of spine fusion solutions, said it signed three license agreements with Scient’x (Guyancourt, France) to make and sell several spinal implants in the U.S. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Alphatec said the signing of the agreement is concurrent with the cancellation of a merger pact between the two companies, first reported in September (Medical Device Daily, Sept. 29, 2006).
Alphatec did not disclose why the merger is being canceled.
“These agreements provide Alphatec with patent rights and know-how related to Scient’x products including several dynamic stabilization products such as the market leading IsoBar system, which has been implanted in over 14,000 patients worldwide,” said Alphatec CEO John Foster.
Foster said the licenses also include a new and ALIF cage system with a securitized anterior PEEK plate to prevent implant migration.
Formed in 1989, Scient’X introduced PEEK spacers, which it says are “considered a standard of care in fusion procedures.” The company also introduced the first posterior dynamic stabilization product, now in its second generation. In addition, Scient’X says it was the first company to introduce a ceramic-on-ceramic artificial disc designed for motion preservation.
Scient’X currently sells more than 25 products for the treatment of spine disorders — 15 sold in the U.S. — and it holds 21 French patents and 11 patents in the U.S. Scient’X says it also holds international patent extensions for procedures in more than 20 countries including Spain, the UK, Germany, Italy, Canada, Japan, South Korea, and Brazil.
Alphatec last year launched its initial public offering at $9-a-share, netting it about $83.1 million after the exercise of over-allotments (MDD, June 5, 2006).
In other deal activity:
• Pulse Systems (Wichita, Kansas), a provider of electronic medical records (EMR) and practice management (PM) systems, and IntrinsiQ (Waltham, Massachusetts), creator of IntelliDose, the provider of chemotherapy management software solutions and a source of oncology data and analysis, have entered into a joint venture partnership. The companies said the joint venture solidifies their presence in the national oncology market and provides customers with the “premier oncology software solution in the nation.”
Combining IntrinsiQ’s IntelliDose chemotherapy management solution and Pulse’s Patient Relationship Management solution provides oncology practices with what the companies said is “unprecedented efficiency in patient flow, workflow and cash flow and delivers patient safety through automation and standards built specifically for each individual practice.”
The companies said that this will mean that oncology practices will not have to perform double entries or work in two different systems. The solution’s algorithms are designed to prevent human error and ensure patient safety.
IntelliDose will seamlessly integrate into the Pulse Patient Relationship Management solution to provide oncologists with a comprehensive and user-friendly software solution. The integrated solution will allow clinicians to interact with patient demographics, appointment information, lab results, medications, allergies, diagnoses, vital signs, drug administrations orders, drug administrations given, chemotherapy orders, nurses’ and doctors’ notes, financial information and more.
“The relationship with IntrinsiQ is a strategic move that completes the workflow cycle for oncology practices using the Pulse Patient Relationship Management solution,” said Basil Hourani, president of Pulse.