A Medical Device Daily

Insulet (Bedford, Massachusetts), manufacturer of the OmniPod Insulin Management System, reported signing an agreement with Aetna U.S. Healthcare (Hartford, Connecticut) which adds the OmniPod to Aetna's network of covered products for diabetes management.

The OmniPod consists of a handheld, wireless Personal Diabetes Manager (PDM), which programs the OmniPod with insulin delivery instructions and monitors its operation; and the compact OmniPod itself, worn beneath clothing and delivering insulin through a cannula that the device inserts automatically under the skin. The PDM contains an integrated FreeStyle blood glucose meter similar in appearance to a personal digital assistant.

Insulet received FDA clearance for the OmniPod System in January 2005 (Medical Device Daily, Feb. 3, 2005) and manufactures the System from its Bedford plant.

“This agreement with Aetna is a major milestone in Insulet's ongoing mission to improve the lives of people with diabetes,” said Duane DeSisto, president/CEO of Insulet. “It makes the OmniPod System – and continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion therapy . . . more accessible to Aetna members living with diabetes in the United States.”

In other agreement news:

• Haemonetics (Braintree, Massachusetts), a maker of automated blood processing systems, reported that it has signed a multi-year agreement with the American Red Cross (ARC; Washington) to continue the use of Haemonetics' red cell collection technology at Red Cross blood services regions in the U.S.

Under the agreement, the ARC will continue to use Haemonetics' red cell collection technology for double red cell collections. In a double red cell collection, a qualified blood donor can donate two units of red cells in one donation thereby helping to alleviate blood shortages.

The ARC first implemented Haemonetics' automated red cell collection technology into its operations in 2000 and since then has expanded use of the technology into 21 regions of its 35 regions.

The Red Cross will begin a trial of Haemonetics' automated platelet collection technology in the near future.

• US Spine (Boca Raton, Florida), a developer of spinal implants, reported that it has entered into an agreement with group purchasing organization HealthTrust Purchasing Group (HealthTrust; Brentwood, Tennessee) as a vendor for spinal implants and instrumentation.

Doris Blake, founder and president of US Spine, said, “This contract will allow our distributor agents access to hundreds of hospitals and healthcare facilities where they will be able to further establish US Spine as a leader in the development and manufacture of spinal instruments and implants.”

US Spine, a private company launched in 2004, develops its products for the treatment of degenerative spinal disease in collaboration with surgeons and scientists.

• Eclipsys (Boca Raton, Florida) and Atlantic Health Sciences (AHSC; Saint John, New Brunswick) reported an agreement for AHSC to implement Eclipsys Sunrise Clinical Manager and its integrated modules, including Sunrise Acute Care, Sunrise Critical Care and Sunrise Emergency Care to better address patient safety and electronic health record (EHR) initiatives.

Sunrise Clinical Manager will provide AHSC with an integrated EHR across all care venues within its region for access to patient information and interdisciplinary collaboration, and AHSC clinicians will use Sunrise Clinical Manager's evidence-based clinical decision support capabilities at the point of care and other points of decision-making.

AHSC is comprised of 13 hospitals and health centers.

• LipoScience (Raleigh, North Carolina) said it has entered into an agreement for ARUP Laboratories (Salt Lake City) to offer its NMR LipoProfile test.

ARUP serves as the primary reference laboratory for more than half of the nation's university teaching hospitals and children's hospitals. ARUP's other clients include multi-hospital groups, major commercial laboratories, group purchasing organizations, military and government facilities, and major clinics.

The NMR LipoProfile test “identifies patients at risk for heart disease that would normally be missed by traditional cholesterol tests alone and gives clinicians lipoprotein particle information to manage that risk appropriately,” said Ronald Weiss, MD, president and chief operating officer of ARUP.

LipoScience develops clinical applications of NMR spectroscopy for cardiovascular disease and metabolic disorders.

• Roche Diagnostics (Indianapolis) and ATCC (Manassas, Virginia) said they are combining resources by consolidating information on transfection and cell lines used in life sciences research.

The companies said they will work toward two objectives: ATCC will supply Roche Diagnostics with a selection of genuine cell lines for testing by that company using Roche Applied Science's transfection reagents; and the companies will offer links on their respective web sites to aid in determining if a cell line has been successfully transfected with the FuGENE reagents.

Roche Applied Science will indicate via its web site when ATCC cell lines are transfected using FuGENE 6 and FuGENE HD Transfection Reagents by Roche Diagnostics scientists or through peer-reviewed publications. On its web site, ATCC will provide information on those cell lines and links to Roche Diagnostics transfection information and references.

• Amicas (Boston), a developer of radiology and medical image and information management solutions, said it has been selected by healthcare purchasing organization Amerinet (St. Louis) as a provider of radiology imaging, information, billing and document management solutions in a three-year agreement.

The pact gives Amerinet's members access to Amicas products, including RIS, PACS and radiology financials software, plus implementation services and support.