A Medical Device Daily

Airgas (Radnor, Pennsylvania) reported acquiring Byrne Specialty Gases (BSG; Seattle), related equipment and cryogenic storage systems for the life sciences sectors in the Pacific Northwest. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Airgas said it will run the business as a unit within Airgas Nor Pac , one of its 13 regional companies providing specialty gases and life science sectors in the Northwest. The acquired operations, including two facilities in Seattle and Vancouver, Washington, generated more than $10 million in sales last year.

Dan Tatro, president of Airgas Nor Pac, said, “Founded by Daniel V. Byrne in 1984, it has become a nationally recognized leader in the life sciences and analytical laboratory fields.“

Airgas reported that Byrne will be the marketing manager, life sciences. Brent Fernyhough, formerly president of BSG, will continue to run the acquired operations as vice president of specialty gases and life sciences. Fernyhough had been president of BSG for the past five years.

Airgas bills itself as the largest U.S. distributor of industrial, medical, and specialty gases, and related hardgoods and the third-largest U.S. distributor of safety products; the largest U.S. producer of nitrous oxide and dry ice; the largest liquid carbon dioxide producer in the Southeast; and a distributor of process chemicals, refrigerants and ammonia products.

Sybron Dental Specialties (Newport Beach, California) reported that its subsidiary Pinnacle Products acquired the infection prevention product line of Dental Disposables International (DDI; Marlboro, New Jersey) in an all-cash transaction, the amount not disclosed. DDI products include Allrap infection control barriers, Googles full face shield and Slip-N-Grip dental chair covers. DDI generated annual revenues of approximately $5 million in 2005.

Floyd Pickrell Jr., CEO of Sybron, said that DDI's operations would be consolidated into Sybron's facilities, its products sold “through our distribution network [to] eliminate redundant expenses . . . The infection prevention business continues to be a growth driver for Sybron.“ Sybron said it expects the acquisition to be accretive to earnings within the first year of combined operations.

Sybron and its subsidiaries manufacture products for the dental profession.

In other dealmaking activity:

• Kairos Hodings (Tampa, Florida) said it will acquire the 20% of Entellectual Solutions Properties Group (ESPG) that it does not already own. Kairos initially acquired 80% of ESPG last December. In the deal 20 million shares of Kairos will be exchanged for 20% of ESPG stock.

ESPG currently has three product lines: Campus, a technology providing enterprise-level ASP; VitalTrust, a nationwide network of Community Healthcare Information Utilities for healthcare information archive and provider share technology; and Health Centrics, a fully developed medical practice manager designed from the outset in the Application Service Provider model.

The former officers and certain directors of Kairos resigned and new officers were appointed. The new CEO and chairman of Kairos is Chuck Broes, the head of EliteCorp (Tampa Bay, Florida), a firm specializing in corporate turn-arounds, roll-ups, mergers and acquisitions, incubation and start-ups, and previous part owner of ESPG.

Kairos focuses on opportunities in medical technology and practice management areas.

• Symbion (Nashville, Tennessee), an owner and operator of short-stay surgery centers, reported acquiring a majority interest and consolidating position in the Center for Special Surgery (Greenville, South Carolina), a multispecialty ambulatory surgery center. Terms were not disclosed.

Symbion owns and operates a network of 62 short stay surgery centers in 23 states. The company's centers provide non-emergency surgical procedures across many specialties.

• OnCure Medical (Newport Beach, California), a provider of outpatient radiation therapy services, reported that it acquired the business of Radiation Oncology Centers (ROC) from Alan Porter, MD.

ROC has been in operation since 1974 and has four cancer therapy centers in the Florida cities of Sarasota, Venice, Englewood and Port Charlotte.

“OnCure is now the second largest freestanding provider of radiation therapy services in the state of Florida with 16 centers,“ said Jeffrey Goffman, president and founder of OnCure.

BioElectronics establishes podiatry program

BioElectronics (Frederick, Maryland) reported that it is establishing its Pulsed Electromagnetic Therapy in Podiatry Education Program.

“As an adjunct to our clinical study programs, we are recruiting and establishing a national speakers group of leading podiatrists to explain and demonstrate the effectiveness of pulsed electromagnetic therapy in the treatment of heel pain, ankle sprains and other inflammatory foot conditions,“ BioElectronics COO Thomas O'Connor said. “We are actively recruiting 20-plus speakers throughout the country to write and speak about the advantages of the ActiPatch drug free solutions for podiatric and orthopedic conditions. We expect to have over 20 professionals speaking at the state and national levels.

“Our research indicates that over 10% of U.S. households have individuals with heel pain and other inflammatory foot conditions. The commonly prescribed treatments such as medications, cortisone shots and ultrasound therapy can be expensive and painful. The drug free, non-invasive ActiPatch solution is a perfect alternative for these patients.“