A Medical Device Daily

Royal Philips Electronics (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) and BG Medicine (Waltham, Massachusetts) have established an alliance in the field of systems biology.

BG will collaborate with Philips to develop the next generation of molecular healthcare products for application in areas such as molecular imaging and point-of-care diagnostics.

Key to the alliance is BGM's systems profiling technologies that identify biomarker sets associated with disease stage, progression and treatment. BG Medicine has granted Philips preferential access to certain of its technologies and services, and Philips has acquired a minority stake in BG.

“We are at the dawn of a new era in medicine where technology and biology are applied in conjunction to create a whole new generation of approaches to diagnosis and treatment with improved clinical outcomes,” said Rick Harwig, chief technology officer of Philips.

The companies said they believe that the advancement of molecular medicine through systems biology promises to revolutionize the practice of healthcare by allowing earlier detection of disease and drug response, thereby increasing the effectiveness of treatment and minimizing the severity or duration of an illness. Molecular medicine also is a keystone in developing individualized therapeutic treatments and diagnostics for improved patient outcomes.

Microtest (Agawam, Massachusetts) has been select-ed to operate Symmetry Medical 's (Warsaw, Indiana) new PolyVac sterilization validation laboratory in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Microtest will operate the facility and provide independent third-party sterilization validation testing services for Symmetry's customers. Microtest is an ISO9001:2000-certified, FDA-registered provider of microbiology and in vitro toxicology laboratory services for the medical device industry.

Symmetry became the first surgical instruments case manufacturer in the U.S. to offer complete services from manufacturing through validation.

“Many industry experts expect imminent action by the FDA guiding how, or even requiring, medical device manufacturers validate their sterilization recommendations,” said Microtest President Steven Richter. He added that Symmetry's ability “to consolidate the added step – perhaps soon to be requirement – of third-party validation into the case design and manufacturing process provides a significant time-to-market advantage to medical device manufacturers.”