• Align Technology(Santa Clara, California), developer of the Invisalign method of straightening teeth without wires and brackets reported during the annual meeting of the American Association of Orthodontists in San Francisco an increase in the number of case refinements included with every Invisalign case. Effective July 1, orthodontists can order up to three case refinements on each new case submitted. Case refinement refers to additional aligners that doctors may order toward the end of treatment to achieve their treatment goals or to perfect final results for the patient. Previously, each Invisalign case included one case refinement.

• bioMerieux (Durham, North Carolina) reported the launch of the Vitek 2 Compact, an automated bacterial identification and antibiotic susceptibility testing system (ID/AST). Designed for small- to mid-sized microbiology laboratories, the Vitek 2 Compact was introduced at the American Society for Microbiology annual meeting in Atlanta. Using multi-spectrum colorimetric and transmittance optic systems, the Vitek 2 Compact detects changes in organism growth under various media and antibiotic concentrations. The system’s analysis algorithm then interprets those readings to provide rapid, accurate translation into microorganism identification and susceptibility results, the company said. The product is built on the technology of bioMerieux’s Vitek 2, but with a smaller footprint to serve smaller labs. The company also said that in response to growing concerns regarding resistant organisms, it plans to develop an antifungal susceptibility test card for fungal identification and antibiotic susceptibility testing. The card, currently in development, is scheduled for availability in 2006. It will work with the Vitek 2 and Vitek 2 Compact instruments.

• Biophan Technologies (West Henrietta, New York) said U.S. patent No. 6,902,290 has been granted to the company. The patent teaches the placement of an electronic sensor within medical devices that can offset the image artifacts that interfere with the quality of MRI imaging. Biophan’s intellectual property portfolio now comprises 127 U.S. issued or pending patents and 46 international issued or pending patents. “This patent is part of our technology suite for making medical devices safe and compatible for operation with MRI imaging,” said Michael Weiner, Biophan CEO. He said the company’s patents, the majority of which address the safety and the image compatibility between MRI systems and implantable and interventional medical devices, “allows us to supply manufacturers with a toolkit of solutions to resolve the MRI-safety and image-quality problems inherent in many medical devices, both on the market and on the drawing boards.”

• MicroVention (Aliso Viejo, California) said that the positive effects of its HydroCoil Embolic System for treating brain aneurysms were the focus of nine scientific presentations at two symposiums during international conferences last month. The HydroCoil System uses an expandable polymer to generate up to 11 times the volumetric dimensions compared to platinum coils, allowing physicians to more effectively fill a cerebral aneurysm. Among the highlights of the presentations at the American Society for Interventional Therapeutic Neuroradiology and American Society for Neuroradiology conferences in Toronto were updates on two ongoing studies that compare the results derived from the HydroCoil System to results from bare platinum coils, the first-generation technology for endovascular aneurysm therapy. In an update of an ongoing multi-center study of patients treated with the HydroCoil System comprising 219 patients, with 128 follow-ups of at least six months, interventional neuroradiologists Harish Shownkeen, MD, and Noel Fanning, MD, noted that the HydroCoil System demonstrated an initial re-treatment rate of 4.5%, about three times lower than the re-treatment rate for bare platinum coils. In patients having an aneurysm smaller than 10 millimeters in diameter, which represents about 75% of the market, the re-treatment rate thus far was zero.