A Medical Device Daily

Genesis Bioventures (BGI; New York) said that has agreed to acquire the assets of Prion Developmental Laboratories (PDL; Buffalo Grove, Illinois). Financial details were not disclosed.

GBI currently holds about 44% equity interest in PDL and said it intends to establish the diagnostic business as a wholly owned subsidiary. The transaction is expected to close within 60 to 90 days, assuming successful completion of due diligence.

The founding scientists at PDL, Dr. Richard Rubenstein and Dr. Robert Petersen, will continue with the new company as officers and directors.

GBI said it has worked closely in the development of PDL's Rapid Prion-Detection Assay tests. In February 2006, PDL granted GBI an exclusive worldwide sales, marketing and distribution agreement to commercialize the tests and reported last month that it granted an exclusive sublicense for commercialization in the Pacific Rim. GBI said it believes that the purchase further ensures PDL's technology reaches customers faster than under its current ownership.

Douglas Lane, president/CEO of BGI, said, “We are committed to establishing a successful diagnostic company based on the patented products developed by Dr. Rubenstein and Dr. Petersen to detect prion diseases such as Mad Cow. The BSE rapid assay has two compelling attributes: the speed and accuracy of the test makes it economically feasible for producers to test all cattle where currently less than 1% of cattle in the U.S. are tested.”

GBI said that the BSE rapid assay has completed development and is ready for global commercialization.

The assay is designed to test for mad cow disease, directly at the point-of-kill rather than in a laboratory. Composed of a rapid test strip, the test would generate results at the producer site in less than an hour, allowing producers to know if the animal is infected with BSE before processing.

The company said the test's “inexpensive” costs paves the way for testing of all cattle for mad cow, destined for human consumption, and would allow would 15%-35% premium pricing for added cost of about a penny a pound.

GBI, a biomedical development firm, is focused on developing diagnostics and therapeutics in oncology and neurodegenerative diseases.

Zila (Phoenix) reported closing on the spin-out of the assets of its Zila Swab Technologies (IST) subsidiary to Great Midwest Packaging. The sale price was not disclosed.

IST manufactures plastic molded products used in specialty packaging applications. Zila said the sale is consistent with its strategy of divesting non-core assets in order to focus on cancer detection technologies.

Zila develops health technologies and products, focusing, it says, “on enhanced body defense and the detection of pre-disease states. Zila Biotechnology is a development and licensing business specializing in pre-cancer/cancer detection through its Zila Tolonium Chloride and OraTest technologies.

In other dealmaking activity:

• U.S. BioDefense (City of Industry, California) reported that it has agreed to acquire Emergency Disaster Systems (EDS), a company focused on disaster preparedness. Terms were not disclosed.

EDS was launched in 1989 to provide earthquake preparedness supplies to communities through out California, providing individual preparedness kits. That effort evolved into emergency medical services support and mass casualty rapid response systems, serving communities, governments and industries with emergency preparedness technology.

David Chin, CEO of U.S. BioDefense said that the purchase “will allow us to expand our Homeland Security division, by focusing on the mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery from all forms of terrorist attacks and natural disasters.”

U.S. BioDefense is a U.S. Department of Defense central contractor that develops homeland security and biotechnology.

• HealthSouth (Birmingham, Alabama) reported completing the acquisition of the assets of Hurrle Orthopaedic Physical Therapy (Indianapolis, Indiana) and thus the ownership of Hurrle's seven outpatient physical therapy facilities providing outpatient rehabilitation services in the Indianapolis area. Transaction details were not disclosed.

HealthSouth is a large provider of outpatient surgery, diagnostic imaging and rehabilitative healthcare services.

• Health Management Associates (Naples, Florida) reported signing an agreement to sell three acute care hospitals to Nevada-based Shiloh Health Services. The transaction is expected to be completed by Nov. 1, subject to regulatory approvals. Financial details were not disclosed.

The hospitals are: Southwest Regional Medical Center (Little Rock, Arkansas), Summit Medical Center (Van Buren, Arkansas) and Williamson Memorial Hospital (Williamson, West Virginia).

HMA owns and operates general acute care hospitals in non-urban communities throughout the U.S.

• Odyssey HealthCare (Dallas) reported the sale of its hospice facility in Salt Lake City to HomeCare Specialists (Ocean City, New Jersey). Terms were not disclosed.

Odyssey said the sale of the Salt Lake City program would have a positive impact on both earnings and the Medicare cap but will result in a 2Q06 charge of about $7.4 million, of which $7.3 million will be a non-cash write-off of intangible assets

Robert Lefton, president/CEO of Odyssey, said. “[W]hile we are proud of the care being provided by our Salt Lake City program, it remains unprofitable.”

Odyssey operates 81 Medicare-certified hospice programs in 30 states.