• Biosense Webster (Diamond Bar, California), a Johnson & Johnson (New Brunswick, New Jersey) company, and Siemens Medical Solutions (Malvern, Pennsylvania) entered a strategic alliance giving Biosense Webster exclusive worldwide rights to distribute Siemens’ Acuson AcuNav ultrasound catheters to electrophysiologists. Siemens will continue to distribute AcuNav ultrasound catheters to interventional cardiologists through its own sales force. The two companies also agreed to co-develop future products. Siemens AcuNav ultrasound catheters provide real-time ultrasound imaging inside the heart as well as direct visualization of both blood flow and other catheters.

• HemoSense (San Jose, California), which makes hand-held blood coagulation systems for monitoring patients taking warfarin, reported signing a distribution agreement with Reliant Healthcare Solutions (also San Jose) to market and distribute HemoSense’s INRatio Prothrombin Time (PT)/INR monitoring system to pati-ents on oral anticoagulant therapy who wish to test their PT/INR at home. Reliant will exclusively offer INRatio to its customers, and intends to provide personalized reimbursement assistance to patients, including insurance claims filing and documentation processing. New INRatio customers will also be eligible for face-to-face training from Reliant’s nationwide network of healthcare professionals.

• Medeikon (Ewing, New Jersey) has entered a collaboration with ACRI (American Cardiology Research Institute; Atlanta) to combine technology to identify and treat cardiac disease. Medeikon provides medical devices designed to enable physicians to accurately diagnose and treat cardiovascular disease. Medeikon’s initial emphasis is on rupture-prone plaque, the leading cause of sudden cardiac death.

• Medwave (Danvers, Massachusetts), which focuses on sensor-based, noninvasive blood pressure measuring, reported the addition of its new Primo spot blood pressure monitoring product to its existing purchasing agreement with Novation (Irving, Texas), the healthcare contracting services company of VHA (also Irving) and the University HealthSystem Consortium (Oak Brook, Illinois). Primo is a hand-held spot blood pressure monitoring device placed on the wrist.

• Metrologic Instruments (Blackwood, New Jersey) reported the signing of a multiyear, worldwide agreement with Spacelabs Medical (Issaquah, Washington), a patient monitoring division of Spacelabs Healthcare. Spacelabs will market and sell Metrologic bar code scanners for use with the Spacelabs range of patient monitors. By interfacing with hospital clinical information systems through Spacelabs’ intuitive WinDNA software, nurses will be able to document point-of-care treatment accurately and easily, all from a single source.

• PLC Systems (Franklin, Massachusetts), which focuses on cardiac laser technologies, said it has agreed with Edwards Lifesciences (Irvine, California) to modify the original Optiwave 980 contract, reported in February 2004. PLC will receive $1.5 million in consideration for transferring to Edwards the Optiwave 980 disposable handpiece manufacturing and development rights and will also receive a royalty on future Optiwave 980 disposable handpiece revenue to a maximum of $1.7 million. PLC said it remains the exclusive manufacturer for the current generation of Optiwave 980 lasers and has the right of first refusal to develop and manufacture the next generation technology.

The Premier (Charlotte, North Carolina) alliance of nearly 1,500 hospitals and health systems reported a special group buy for Siemens Medical Solutions’ (Malvern, Pennsylvania) imaging systems, as well as associated contrast media injectors from Mallinckrodt (St. Louis) and Medrad (Indianola, Pennsylvania). The event, which runs through June 30, is expected to offer “considerable savings opportunities to members,” the companies said.

• Telzuit Medical Technologies (Orlando, Florida) reported that it has signed a co-marketing agreement with external counterpulsation (ECP) equipment maker Cardiomedics (Irvine, California) for the sale of Telzuit’s BioPatch Wireless Holter Monitor System through Cardiomedics’ existing sales and marketing channels. Comprised of 26 internal and contracted sales staff, the Cardiomedics sales force intends to market the BioPatch alongside the company’s ECP equipment, including the CardiAssist and CardiAssess Systems. With a client base of more than 500 cardiologists, Cardiomedics said it expects to place several thousand BioPatch units into the market within the first 12 months of usage. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.