• Abbott Laboratories (Abbott Park, Illinois) reported that it has signed an agreement with the American Red Cross (Atlanta) to supply 20 Abbott Prism System automated blood screening instruments to five U.S. National Testing Laboratories that test 7 million units of blood annually. The contract is expected to run through 2011. No additional terms were disclosed. Abbott’s Prism system is used to screen donated blood by more than 30 countries, or more than 25% of the global blood supply, according to Abbott.

• Affymetrix (Santa Clara, California) and Partners HealthCare (Boston) said that they have entered into a three-year “translational” research collaboration to develop microarray-based diagnostics for complex diseases such as newborn hearing loss, autism and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Researchers at Harvard Medical School (Boston), Partners HealthCare and Harvard Medical School-Partners HealthCare Center for Genetics and Genomics (HPCGG) will create and validate microarray tests in Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments laboratories.

• ATS Medical (Minneapolis), a developer of cardiac surgery products and services, reported a distribution agreement with Novare Surgical Systems (Cupertino, California) for Novare’s Enclose II cardiac anastomosis assist device. ATS Medical will distribute the device in the U.S., Germany, France and the UK. The Enclose II is used by cardiac surgeons to attach a bypass vessel to the aorta during coronary artery bypass graft surgery.

• Estech (San Ramon, California) reported expanding its distribution agreement with Neoprobe (Dublin, Ohio) for the Cardiosonix Quantix/OR blood flow measurement system to include Europe in addition to the U.S. Estech says the Quantix/OR is designed to provide surgeons with quantitative hemodynamic information in coronary artery bypass graft and carotid endarterectomy procedures.

• HemoCue (Lake Forest, California) and Independent Medical Co-Op (IMCO; Daytona Beach, Florida) have entered into a distribution agreement that HemoCue said will lead to growth in both the physician office lab (POL) and hospital markets. IMCO is a member-based co-op for medical supply distributors. HemoCue makes medical testing systems including hemoglobin, glucose, and urine albumin point-of-care systems.

• Hospira (Lake Forest, Illinois), a global hospital products company, reported a new, national agreement with HealthTrust Purchasing Group (Brentwood, Tennessee) to provide its member organizations access to Hospira’s line of pain management infusion pumps. The contract provides access to Hospira’s LifeCare PCA and GemStar pain management infusion systems.

• iCAD (Nashua, New Hampshire) reported that FujiFilm Medical System (Stamford, Connecticut) will offer iCAD products through its U.S. sales channels. Fuji said that the SecondLook Digital and TotalLook products, with the newly released version 7.2, will broaden Fuji‘s Computed Radiography for Mammography (FCRm) offerings by providing computer-aided cancer detection (CAD) capabilities and a complete transition to digital mammography. iCAD makes CAD solutions. FujiFilm Medical makes digital imaging systems for healthcare, digital X-ray, women’s healthcare imaging, dry imagers and conventional X-ray film and equipment.

• i-Flow (Lake Forest, California) reported an agreement with Amerinet (St. Louis) to make the ON-Q line of post-surgical pain relief devices available to its member facilities. The contract includes the ON-Q PainBuster Post-Operative Pain Relief System, the ON-Q C-bloc Continuous Nerve Block System and the ON-Q SilverSoaker Catheter.

• Iris International (Chatsworth, California), a manufacturer of automated IVD urinalysis systems and devices used in hospitals and clinical reference laboratories, reported that its Iris Diagnostics Division has entered into a five-year agreement to supply and service automated urine microscopy technology for Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (LabCorp; Burlington, North Carolina). In connection with this agreement, Iris also said that LabCorp has ordered 26 iQ200 Sprint Urine Microscopy Analyzers. Under the agreement, Iris Diagnostics will provide training, installation, service and related reagents and consumables.

• Premier Purchasing Partners (Charlotte, North Carolina) reported a new agreement for point-of-care coagulation meters, reagents, consumables and service with International Technidyne (Edison, New Jersey). The 47-month agreement, effective Oct. 1, is available to both the acute-care and continuum-of-care markets. The agreement varies from a standard 36-month term to more evenly distribute the expiration of Premier contracts.

• Positron (Houston), a developer of PET medical devices, reported that it has partnered with MIMvista (Cleveland) to provide MIMcardiac display and analysis software for its mPower brand scanners. MIMcardiac, part of the MIMvista Corporation fusion and display software suite, will provide Positron’s customers the ability to register 3-D computed tomograph coronary angiograms (3D CTCA) and functional cardiac studies acquired on the mPower scanner, as well as triangulate between 3-D and cross-sectional images.