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A mid-May report from National Health Service (NHS) Chief Executive Nigel Crisp indicates that the NHS is meeting targets ahead of time in speeding up treatment for those needing heart surgery, cancer treatment and cataract procedures.

New UK Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt said, for instance, that patients requiring coronary bypasses or angioplasties are having their operations within three months. She said the progress made in tackling heart disease typified the "huge improvements" being experienced across the service. She said the target to treat heart patients within three months was met in March, three years ahead of schedule, compared to waits of more than 18 months in 2000 and up to two years in the benchmark year of 1997.

Crisp's report confirms that patients are experiencing faster access to services across the board and that the NHS is providing improved quality of care. He said the progress marks the halfway point in delivering the NHS Plan.

Also in the report:

More than 99% of those with suspected cancer are seen by a specialist within two weeks of referral, and in excess of 97% of women with breast cancer receive treatment within one month of diagnosis;

British men have had the world's sharpest fall in deaths from lung cancer, and in the past decade British women have had the world's biggest decrease in deaths from breast cancer.

By the end of January, no one was waiting more than three months for their first cataract operation, a target that was met four years ahead of schedule. Cataract surgery is one of the most common types of surgical procedures in the NHS.

The number of people waiting for surgery was reduced by 491,000 to a record low of 822,000 in March compared to 1,313,000 in April 1998, a reduction of 37%.

Noting that her appointment as health secretary "falls at almost precisely the halfway mark in the 10-year program that the prime minister and Alan Milburn set out in the NHS Plan in 2000, Hewitt said, "this report should give patients, staff and taxpayers great encouragement. These are significant achievements for the NHS. They are a result of the extra investment we've been putting into the system, our program of reform, and the dedication and hard work of NHS staff."

Hewitt said she intends to "continue to modernize and reform the way services are provided to patients. We need to focus on achieving our pledge to reduce the maximum waiting time to 18 weeks, we need to transform the system to give patients more choice and more control over their treatment, and we need to press on with tackling MRSA [methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus]."

Sorin unveils integration plan

Sorin Group (Milan, Italy), Europe's largest cardiovascular device company, has elaborated on the integration plan for its Cardiopulmonary business, part of the company's Cardiac Surgery Business Unit. The plan, previously reported by Sorin at presentations to market analysts last November and in early March, calls for its three separate cardiopulmonary products companies COBE Cardiovascular (Arvado, Colorado), Dideco (Mirandola, Italy) and Stockert (Munich, Germany) to be operated as a single unit, while maintaining their present locations as "centers of excellence focused on specific missions and competencies," Sorin said

The goal is to "further strengthen the company's market leadership position," the company said, by improving the manufacturing flexibility, time-to-market and cost efficiencies for its cardiopulmonary heart-lung machine, autologous blood transfusion and blood management product lines.

Franco Vallana, president of the company's Cardiac Surgery Business Unit, said the expected annual savings from the plan will be EUR 10 million in 2009 "and will start to significantly impact our bottom line in 2007." The integration plan calls for elimination of duplicated manufacturing activities and concentration of manufacturing at the most cost-effective locations.

As a result, Sorin's U.S. operations in the Denver area will focus on ATS blood transfusion disposable sets assembly, as well as perfusion tubing systems (PTS) design and assembly, for North American customers, and will be the focal point for distribution of Sorin products in North America. In addition, the Arvada location will continue to grow as the headquarters of Sorin Group's North America Region, with group sales, field marketing and shared services centered there.

The Mirandola facility will host the worldwide production of the company's Oxygenator product platform and ATS bowls, as well as ATS disposable sets assembly and PTS design and assembly for international regions (Europe and rest of the world) customers, along with distribution of CPB/ATS disposables for the international region.

Munich will host the worldwide manufacturing of all cardiac surgery equipment, along with serving as worldwide distribution center and technical service center for such equipment.

Sorin said the implementation of the plan and transfer of production processes, which will start immediately, will be done with the goal of "preserving the highest quality and reliability standards, and ensuring full compliance with regulatory approvals received from the FDA and the European Union." The company said the integration plan completes its overall restructuring and cost reduction program, which it said is aimed at "fully realizing all the group's untapped value."

Besides COBE Cardiovascular, Dideco and Stockert, the companies of the Sorin Group include Bellco, ELA Medical, Mitroflow, Soludia and Sorin Biomedica. Sorin has about 4,800 employees working at facilities in more than 80 countries.

Puusepp advances to CEO at Elekta

As part of a leadership succession plan announced by Elekta (Stockholm, Sweden) last fall, Tomas Puusepp last month assumed the positions of president and CEO of the manufacturer of advanced neurosurgery and radiotherapy treatment devices. Laurent Leksell, the company's largest shareholder and former president and CEO, is assuming a new role focusing on the company's strategic development, long-term customer relations and expansion into new markets.

Leksell has been with Elekta since the company's founding in 1972 and has served as president and CEO since 1986. Under his leadership, Elekta has grown to a global supplier of advanced medical technology, with sales of more than SEK 3.5 billion, 1,700 employees, and equipment and software systems installed in more than 3,000 hospitals worldwide.

Last September, the company's board of directors appointed Puusepp to succeed Leksell as president, effective May 1 of this year. He had previously been a member of Elekta's executive committee, most recently with global responsibility for sales, marketing and service operations. Puusepp joined Elekta in 1988 and has held various executive positions within the Group, including managing Elekta's operations within neurosurgery and as president of Elekta's North American subsidiary in Norcross, Georgia. He has a total of 22 years of senior management experience in international medical technology markets, including introduction of new clinical solutions and financing systems.

"Elekta stands well prepared for a period of continued profitable growth," said Puusepp. "We have an organization and a market position which will enable us to further expand the group's profitability." Citing the company's "world-leading and unique product portfolio," he added: "We can now offer a fully integrated solution for the whole cancer care process from [diagnosis] and treatment planning to treatment delivery and follow-up."

In the long term, he said, Elekta "will develop into a solution partner, able to assume an overall responsibility for quality and efficiency in the clinic's treatment process."

More dialyzer capacity for Gambro

Gambro (Stockholm, Sweden) said in mid-May that it would expand its capacity for dialyzers with synthetic membranes in its existing dialyzer plant in Meyzieu, France. It said the investment in new capacity would enable the company to increase its production capacity by more than 2 million dialyzers annually. The work to reconstruct the plant in Meyzieu will start immediately and will take about 12 months before it is fully operational. The company said the investment supports its strategy to further grow its business in the rapidly expanding market for dialyzers with synthetic membranes.

Earlier this year, Gambro announced that a new manufacturing plant for dialyzers with synthetic membranes would be built in Opelika, Alabama. The company said that since 1999, it has made investment decisions including the Alabama plant and the expansion in France that in total will result in an increased production capacity of more than 32 million synthetic dialyzers a year.

The new capacity will be added to the existing production of synthetic membrance dialyzers at the Meyzieu plant. In addition, disposables for the Prisma and Prismaflex system used in intensive care units are produced in that plant.

Axya Systems acquired by Cerner

Cerner (Kansas City, Missouri) reported its acquisition of privately held Axya Systemes (Paris), a healthcare information technology (IT) company that specializes in financial, administrative and clinical solutions for hospitals. The acquired company's new name is Cerner France. Cerner said the transaction would expand its presence in France and bring "significant intellectual property and knowledge of the French healthcare market."

Trace Devanny, Cerner president, said the two companies "have a shared mission to improve the quality and efficiency of healthcare around the world through information technology. Together we are better positioned to capitalize on the many opportunities available in all segments of the French healthcare market." He called Axya "an excellent fit within Cerner because of our common cultures, complementary solutions and similar views on the importance of unified architecture."

Axya has a diverse client base that includes academic, private and public hospitals in France, Switzerland and Morocco. Its founders, Anne-Veronique Dufresnoy and David Kalfon, will be become part of the Cerner France management team.

MedMira completes UAE registration

MedMira (Halifax, Nova Scotia) a developer of rapid flow-through diagnostic technology, said it has successfully completed the registration process with the Ministry of Health in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The registration enables MedMira to participate in government tenders and sell its rapid HIV and hepatitis C tests to government healthcare facilities, where 70% of all HIV and hepatitis C testing is conducted in the UAE.

MedMira said its distributor, Prestige Group, has established a "solid position" in the Middle East's private healthcare sector with sales of the MiraWell Rapid HIV Test and MiraWell Rapid HCV Test. MedMira said its rapid tests are the fastest flow-through diagnostic tests in the world, providing results in three minutes. The company said rapid diagnostic tests present significant value in the UAE market, where expatriates make up 80% of the population and must be tested for HIV every two years as part of the visa renewal process.

Omron will buy Colin Medical

Omron (Kyoto, Japan) reported last month that it would acquire all shares of Colin Medical Technology (CMT; Komaki, Japan) from the Carlyle Group (Washington) and other stockholders through its wholly owned company, Omron Healthcare (Kyoto, Japan). The purchase the deal terms not disclosed is planned for completion this month.

In the deal, Omron Healthcare said it will acquire CMT's medical devices for healthcare professionals, such as bio-information monitors, inpatient blood pressure monitoring devices and vascular screening devices, adding to Omron's home healthcare products, including blood pressure monitors and body fat analyzers. Omron Healthcare said it now can offer a variety of medical devices for the operating room, hospital and home and anticipates creating "a new market by connecting medical workplaces and patient homes."

The company said the global market for healthcare devices for home use such as blood pressure monitors, body fat analyzers, thermometers and nebulizers is expected to grow steadily from 113.5 billion yen last year to 150 billion yen in 2011.

Zeiss sells uHTS business to Evotec

Evotec Technologies (ET; Hamburg, Germany), a supplier of tools and technologies for life sciences and pharmaceutical drug discovery, reported the acquisition of the ultra-high-throughput system (uHTS) business from Carl Zeiss AG (Oberkochen, Germany). As part of the transaction, ET received the exclusive rights to build and commercialize the uHTS product portfolio. including the plate:vision reader, the plate:explorer uHTS system and the plate:works software.

ET also assumed the service responsibility for the installed base of these Zeiss instruments. As part of the deal, the company transferred a small number of Zeiss employees.