A Medical Device Daily

Vemics (Nanuet, New York), a provider of hosted, real-time collaboration and meeting solutions has acquired NuScribe (Austin, Texas), a developer of voice recognition software applications and web-based productivity tools for the medical, pharmaceutical and healthcare industries for $9 million in an all-stock transaction with Vemics’ stock valued at 90 cents a share.

The companies said that the combined Vemics/NuScribe technologies will serve a market of more 600,000 physicians in the U.S. with an integrated real-time productivity toolset for reducing the cost and time spent creating electronic medical records industry-wide.

Vemis said the acquisition makes it the first company to deliver single-sourced online solutions for electronic medical record creation live, interactive virtual medical education and collaboration real-time marketing for pharmaceutical companies.

It said physicians nationwide will benefit from simplified electronic medical records creation, freeing time for patients. In addition, doctors will have real-time access to medical records and other healthcare professionals nationwide, lowering medical costs and improving clinical results. Also, the new web conferencing platform eliminates travel to live continuing medical education seminars and medical events. Medical professionals can also utilize the platform to deliver online seminars.

NuScribe SM, NuScribe’s flagship product, is a web-based, speech-enabled documentation system that helps medical professionals save time, increase revenue and cut costs while streamlining the entire medical transcription process. The system enables physicians to create, edit, sign and dispatch patient notes, electronic medical records, prescriptions, referral letters and more.

During the transition period, scheduled to be complete by mid first-quarter 2007, both companies will maintain current business activities while working collectively to produce the new integrated collaboration and productivity tools.

Tom Dorsett, CEO and co-founder of NuScribe, will become senior vice president, business development for Vemics, overseeing sales into the U.S. hospital and medical markets, building alliances and the development of physician-centric online tools. Dorsett also will lead the integration of the NuScribe transition into Vemics.

Newport (Irvine, California) reported that it has signed an agreement to acquire the Laser Products business of Picarro (Sunnyvale, California).

The Laser Products business, located in Ottawa, Canada, makes solid-state lasers targeted primarily at the life and health sciences and process control markets, including the iCyan 488 nm blue laser. The business will become a part of Newport’s Spectra-Physics Lasers Division and is projected to have 2007 sales in the range of $5 million-$7 million.

The transaction is expected to close in early November after standard closing conditions are met. Other terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Newport is a supplier of advanced photonics technologies to customers in the scientific research, microelectronics manufacturing, aerospace and defense/security, life and health sciences and industrial manufacturing markets.

In other dealmaking news:

• Premier (San Diego) has acquired Cereplex (Germantown, Maryland), it said, to push its strategy of spreading technology for reducing hospital infections and overuse of antibiotics.

“Cereplex represents a perfect fit with our alliance’s goal of transforming American healthcare to make it the safest and most effective in the world,” said Richard Norling, president/CEO of Premier. “By acquiring the technology and expertise of Cereplex, we believe we can make a dramatic impact for patients by reducing hospital-acquired infections and overuse of antibiotics.”

Premier said it anticipates expanding the reach of Cereplex’s technology while mining the data on infections and antibiotic use to identify and share best practices. The data will become part of Premier’s Perspectiv database.

With more than 1,700 hospitals and 42,000 other healthcare sites, Premier is the largest healthcare alliance in the U.S. dedicated to improving patient outcomes while safely reducing the cost of care.

• BioMed Realty Trust (San Diego) reported that it has signed a purchase and sale agreement with CLSB I, andCLSB II, affiliates of Lyme Properties (Cambridge, Massachusetts), to acquire the Center for Life Science Boston at 3 Blackfan Circle in the heart of Boston’s Longwood Medical Area. The 702,940 square foot life science research building is currently under construction and scheduled for delivery in 2008.

The project is 80% pre-leased, on a long-term, triple net basis, to four life science institutions — Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center , Children’s Hospital Boston , Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the CBR Institute for Biomedical Research . The remaining space available for lease includes about 98,000 square feet located on the top four floors — 15 through 18. The building also will contain space on the first floor for retail shops and 300 below-grade parking spaces.

Including the initial purchase price of $507 million, and future construction costs to complete the project, the company expects to invest more than $700 million in the Center for Life Science Boston . BioMed said it will finance the acquisition through a combination of borrowings under its $500 million revolving credit facility, debt secured by the project and/or other debt financing.

The acquisition is expected to close in 4Q06, subject to customary conditions.

BioMed is a real estate investment trust providing real estate to the life science industry.

MDD releases new report on orthopedics market

The publishers of Medical Device Daily have just released a new 200-page report focusing on the orthopedics sector, Orthopedics 2006 – Trends, Challenges and Opportunities.The report provides detailed insight into the trends impacting the orthopedics sector.

By focusing on emerging technologies and device developments in orthopedics, this new report divides the industry into its primary sub-sectors, and describes the key companies and device technologies being developed in each. “Aside from analysis we provide on the emerging sectors, we also delve into which areas are most vulnerable to current pricing pressures, such as the impact of hospital influence on the industry, along with recent FDA actions,” says Associate Managing Edi-tor Holland Johnson.

For information on purchasing this report, call our customer service department at 1-800-688-2421 or 1-404-262-5476, or go to www.MedicalDeviceDaily.com.