A Medical Device Daily

SurModics (Eden Prairie, Minnesota), a provider of surface modification and drug delivery technologies to the healthcare industry, has acquired intellectual property covering biodegradable polymer technology from Intralytix (Baltimore) for an undisclosed sum.

The intellectual property relates to polyester-amide (PEA) biodegradable polymers, which naturally degrade in the body into amino acid components, the building blocks of proteins.

“SurModics continues to expand its technology offerings in the drug delivery arena,“ said Bruce Barclay, president and CEO of SurModics. “The acquisition of this technology brings to five the total number of biodegradable polymers suitable for site specific drug delivery available to our customers, and complements our durable polymer drug delivery platforms.

Barclay added that as the company increases its expertise in the area, it is “expanding the potential applications of particular polymer classes with various drugs and other biological compounds. We believe the PEA biodegradable polymers we acquired from Intralytix position us well to provide new site-specific drug delivery capabilities to a wide range of customers.“

Abbott Molecular , a division of Abbott Laboratories (Abbott Park, Illinois), has obtained a non-exclusive, worldwide license to a number of Affymetrix (Santa Clara, California) patents that will allow it to manufacture and sell comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) microarrays, related readers and software in the research and diagnostics field. Details of the license were not disclosed.

Affymetrix scientists invented the world's first microarray in 1989 and began selling the first commercial microarray in 1994.

In other dealmaking news:

• 3M Health Care (St. Paul, Minnesota) reported a licensing agreement with ClozeX Medical (Wellesley, Massachusetts), a provider of skin closure devices to treat lacerations and close surgical incisions.

The agreement gives 3M exclusive worldwide rights for the manufacturing and distribution of ClozeX Wound Closures.

3M said the license agreement builds on 3M Health Care's reputation and global presence in surgical and wound care products. “Adding the ClozeX family of products to 3M Health Care's existing wound closure portfolio provides a time-saving option to surgeons and other medical specialists for painless, needleless closure of surgical incisions and lacerations,“ said Dr. J. Michael McQuade, division vice president, 3M Medical Division.

A variety of surgeons and physicians in different medical specialties currently use ClozeX Wound Closures in surgery. These include plastic and reconstruction, cardiothoracic, vascular, ob-gyn, general surgery, orthopedics, dermatology and emergency medicine.

• Medical Creative Technologies (Telford, Pennsylvania) reported completing purchase of the intellectual property of Dexterity Surgical (Houston), including manufacturing and distribution rights for certain medical devices, including the Dexterity Protractor and Dexterity PneumoSleeve. Terms were not disclosed.

The Protractor is a wound retractor/protector device used in open surgical procedures in general, gynecological, urological, colon and rectal, bariatric and orthopedic therapeutics; the PneumoSleeve is a device invented to perform the Hand Assisted Laparoscopic (HAL) technique, a hybrid approach to difficult, least invasive surgery.

Medical Creative Technologies says its focus is the development of “least-invasive“ surgical products.

• Henry Schein (Melville, New York) said it has completed the acquisition of NLS Animal Health (Owings Mills, Maryland), a privately held, full-service veterinary distribution business. The company said this acquisition represents a “significant increase“ in Henry Schein's veterinary footprint in the U.S.

Financial terms of the transaction were not released.

As reported on March 8, the acquisition is expected to be slightly accretive to Henry Schein's 2006 diluted earnings per share, and to add an estimated 2 cents to 4 cents per share in 2007.

NLS Animal Health serves about 8,000 companion animal clinics in 26 states in the South-Central, Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions of the U.S., and had 2005 sales of about $110 million.

Henry Schein's four business groups – Dental, Medical, International and Technology – serve more than 500,000 customers worldwide, including dental practices and laboratories, physician practices and veterinary clinics, as well as government and other institutions.