A Medical Device Daily

ATS Medical (Minneapolis) said it has acquired certain assets of EM Vascular (Shoreview, Minnesota).

It said the transaction will be completed through by issuing ATS common stock to EM Vascular and subsequently distributed to EM Vascular stockholders. The projected value of the deal was not disclosed.

ATS said the “significant asset” acquired in the deal is intellectual property “that may lead to breakthroughs in the treatment of common vascular and blood disorders.” Specifically, it said that the technology may allow for a “non-invasive, non-pharma therapy for the treatment of such disorders as atherosclerotic plaque and blood hypercholesterolemia.” The technology also provides opportunities for future angiogenesis applications, it said.

“This purchase is the culmination of an 18-month research collaboration that has shown exciting promise and results in several areas,” said David Elizondo, VP of R&D for ATS. “The technology complements pioneering research conducted by our scientists and will likely strengthen existing ATS technology as well as position us for significant therapeutic advances in the future.”

ATS is focused on the cardiac surgery market. It makes the ATS Open Pivot heart valve and the SurgiFrost and FrostByte products for cryoablation of cardiac arrhythmias.

Biomoda (Albuquerque, New Mexico), a developer of early lung cancer detection testing and other cancer diagnostics, said it has signed an agreement to exclusively license cancer detection technology from Los Alamos National Laboratory . Financial terms were not disclosed.

“Our agreement highlights the importance of our National Laboratories, particularly Los Alamos, and the significant contribution made by them to medical research and product development,” said John Cousins, president of Biomoda. “It was a researcher from Los Alamos who 15 years ago began his investigation into the lung ailments of miners in Colorado that led to Biomoda’s technology that detects lung cancer at its earliest stages.”

Biomoda’s technology is based on a porphyrin application that preferentially binds to cancerous or aberrant cells, which are non-invasively collected from lung sputum samples. The porphyrin then glows red under fluorescent light, easily identifying cancerous cells. This optical reading of a molecular cancer test is automated, permitting rapid, accurate, and inexpensive cancer screening of large populations.

In other dealmaking activity:

• Affymetrix (Santa Clara, California) and Baylor College of Medicine (Houston) reported that Baylor has obtained a non-exclusive, worldwide license to a number of Affymetrix patents covering comparative genomic hybridization microarray services in Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments environments.

Financial details of the license were not disclosed.

• Health Care Property Investors (HCP; Long Beach, California) reported the sale of a portfolio of 78 skilled nursing facilities for an aggregate price of about $443.5 million. The 78 facilities, with an average age of 31 years, are operated by 28 different operators and include 8,881 licensed beds.

The sale to an investor of 69 facilities, representing $391.6 million in value, closed on Dec. 1. Tenants of the remaining ninefacilities, representing $51.9 million in value, exercised rights of first refusal to acquire those facilities. The sales to tenants are expected to close before Jan 31, 2007.

HCP is a self-administered real estate investment trust that invests directly or through joint ventures in healthcare facilities. As of Nov. 6, HCP’s portfolio of properties, excluding assets held for sale but including investments through joint ventures and mortgage loans, included 801 properties and consisted of 333 senior housing facilities, 265 medical office buildings, 30 hospitals, 144 skilled nursing facilities and 29 other healthcare facilities.

• Abbott Laboratories (Abbott Park, Illinois) reported that the Federal Trade Commission has granted early termination of the antitrust waiting period for its $3.7 billion acquisition of Kos Pharmaceuticals (Miami).

The tender offer for Kos shares is scheduled to expire Dec. 12, unless extended. Consummation of the tender offer remains subject to customary conditions, including satisfaction of the minimum tender condition under the agreement and plan of merger entered into by Abbott and Kos Nov. 5.

As previously disclosed, Abbott commenced a tender offer on Nov. 14 for all of the outstanding shares of Kos common stock for $78 a share.

Kos develops prescription products for the treatment of chronic cardiovascular, metabolic, and respiratory diseases.