A Medical Device Daily

Thermo Electron (Waltham, Massachusetts) and Fisher Scientific International (Hampton, New Hampshire) yesterday reported completion of their merger to create Thermo Fisher Scientific, saying the combination now creates a “world leader in serving science.”

The companies combined in a tax-free, stock-for-stock transaction following anti-trust clearance received from the European Commission early Thursday. The new company, to be headquartered in Waltham, has about $9 billion in revenues and 30,000 employees.

“This is a historic day for both companies, as two industry leaders join forces to create Thermo Fisher Scientific,” said Marijn Dekkers, president/CEO of Thermo Fisher Scientific. “The new company combines Thermo’s industry-leading analytical instrumentation with Fisher’s world-renowned laboratory reagents and consumables. As a result, we can deliver advanced technological solutions and integrated workflows to help our customers push the boundaries of scientific discovery, with increased efficiency. In addition, we have unprecedented access to our customers across the globe through the largest sales force in the industry, and through our catalog and e-commerce channels.”

Fisher shareholders received 2 shares of Thermo common stock for each share of their Fisher common stock. Thermo’s shareholders own about 39% of the combined company, and Fisher shareholders own about 61%.

“With this transaction, we have created the world’s only provider of fully integrated, end-to-end solutions in the life, laboratory and health sciences industry,” said Paul Meister, chairman of Thermo Fisher Scientific and previously vice chairman of Fisher Scientific.

Thermo Fisher Scientific said it will provide more details about the company, including an update to its 2007 guidance, at an Analyst Day in New York Dec. 14.

The company will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol TMO.

Thermo Fisher Scientific says it now serves more than 350,000 customers within pharmaceutical and biotech companies, hospitals and clinical diagnostic labs, universities, research institutions and government agencies, as well as environmental and industrial process control settings.

In other dealmaking activity:

• A subsidiary of LifeCare Holdings (Plano, Texas) has entered into a master lease line of credit and master lease agreement with Health Care REIT (Toledo, Ohio) to provide LifeCare with up to $250 million in capital to acquire and develop long term acute care hospitals (LTACH).

Health Care REIT will purchase designated properties and will provide capital to build hospitals to be leased to LifeCare for a 15-year term.

LifeCare’s first project using the line of credit is a 60,000-square foot de novo facility to be located in Meridian, Idaho, near Boise.

Health Care REIT also recently completed the purchase of a 6.7-acre parcel of land in Meridian on which a 60-bed, long-term acute care hospital will be constructed and leased to LifeCare. The hospital is expected to be completed in early 2008 and will be designed and constructed specifically for a medically complex patient base, the company said.

“Health Care REIT is a significant force in healthcare real estate financing, “ said CEO and Chairman W. Earl Reed, III. “This agreement will advance our efforts to develop hospitals in under-served markets to meet the needs of patients who can benefit from our long term acute care hospital services.”

LifeCare operates 19 long-term acute care hospitals in nine states. Long-term acute care hospitals specialize in the treatment of medically complex patients who require intensive hospital care for an extended period of time, generally more than 25 days.

• Amicus Hyperbaric Group (Lubbock, Texas) reported acquiring Southcoast Hyperbarics and Wound Care Center (Houston). Amicus said that the Southcoast Center will provide hyperbaric services to Texas Specialty Hospital under an exclusive long-term contract.

Don Sprague, MD, formerly medical director at the Johnson Space Center , will serve as medical director of the Southcoast Center, and Jay Rain, formerly clinical research specialist with Surgical and Infectious Disease and Hyperbaric/Woundcare Medical Team at UTMB-Galveston will serve as chief technologist.

“Acquisition of the Southcoast center is a first step in our multi-phase plan to provide the Greater Houston Metropolitan Area with quality hyperbaric and wound care services,” said Jim Bullard, Amicus’ president.

Amicus said the acquisition is part of its plan to establish hyperbaric centers throughout the southwestern U.S. to provide treatment for diabetic or geriatric wounds.

Hyperbaric therapy is a Medicare-approved therapy to treat wounds in diabetic and other patients. The majority of hyperbaric services target the treatment of diabetic foot wounds or wounds indirectly related to diabetes.

Amicus Hyperbaric Group was founded in 2003 to provide hyperbaric services to hospitals throughout the U.S. and it says it is one of the largest providers of hyperbaric therapy services in Texas, with operations in Amarillo, Abilene, Houston, Lubbock, McAllen (two hospitals), Fort Worth, Floresville (a suburb of San Antonio) and Odessa

• Chemed (Cincinnati) reported that its Vitas Healthcare subsidiary has finalized the sale of its hospice program in Phoenix, Arizona. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Chemed operates two subsidiaries: Vitas Healthcare and Roto-Rooter. It says that Vitas is the nation’s largest provider of end-of-life hospice care.