BioMatrix completes new laboratory

Bio-Matrix Scientific Group (San Diego), a biotechnology company focused on stem cell cryogenics and disposable stem cell/tissue transfer instruments, has completed its Medical Device Engineering, Testing and Research Laboratory.

The laboratory is expected to allow for in-house engineering and testing of medical devices from the development stage all the way through to the refinement stage.

The laboratory will not only be used in the development of new medical devices, but it will also serve in the refinement and expansion of the company's patent pending and proprietary stem cell and tissue transfer instruments. That facility is the first of three specialty research laboratories to be completed.

MediQuest, Defibtech in Canadian AED deployment

Concurrent with North American Occupational Safety and Health Week, MediQuest Technologies (Vancouver, British Columbia) and Defibtech (Guilford, Connecticut) jointly reported plans to distribute over the next year 1,500 MediQuest AED Save-a-Life Programs including the Defibtech Lifeline AED (automated external defibrillator) to Canadian retail locations, workplaces and public facilities.

MediQuest President Chris Metcalfe said the AED deployment, which is scheduled to begin at the end of May, will be Canada's largest single distribution of AEDs to date. In addition to distributing the Defibtech AEDs, the MediQuest AED Save-a-Life Program will provide medical direction and training to all participating locations. Metcalfe also is the Canadian chairman of the launch committee of North American Occupational Safety and Health Week, which is celebrated during the first week of May in Canada, Mexico, and the U.S.

The AED training will be given in English or French to as many as 15,000 individuals across Canada, Metcalfe estimated. The Defibtech AED's voice prompts - which "talk" to the user, providing audible instructions on lifesaving defibrillation - will be available in English or French, as well.

NASI notified of Nasdaq noncompliance

North American Scientific (NASI; Chatsworth, California), a provider of radiation therapy products and services, reported that it received a notice from Nasdaq dated April 28 indicating that the company does not comply with the minimum $10 million stockholders' equity requirement under Maintenance Standard 1 for continued listing on Nasdaq set forth in Marketplace Rule 4450(a)(3). In addition, the company does not comply with the alternate minimum $50 million market value of listed securities requirement under Maintenance Standard 2 for continued listing on Nasdaq.

As a result of the company's noncompliance, the company's common stock is subject to delisting from Nasdaq at the opening of business on May 9. The company said it intends to request a hearing with a Nasdaq Listing Qualifications Panel to appeal such delisting.

The company's common stock will remain quoted on Nasdaq pending the outcome of the appeal under its current symbol NASI.