Delphi Medical Systems (Troy, Michigan) signed an exclusive worldwide agreement with Norway-based PremaCare to develop and start production of a neonatal intensive care incubator. The incubator is designed to provide more comfort to the infant through "a better-controlled environment, with full visibility for the caregiver, and better and easier access to the patient," according to Delphi Medical. Among the improvements the PremaCare incubator is expected to deliver is controlled temperature. A double-wall dome keeps the air flow warm at a steady temperature, keeping the baby warm even when access is needed and the doors are open. Delphi Medical Systems also reported signing a worldwide licensing agreement to manufacture and market vital signs monitors using breakthrough cardiac technologies and products from Inovise Medical (Newberg, Oregon). It will integrate and distribute Inovise's Audicor software and sensors in its vital signs monitors, and manufacture and market these products for use at home or in alternate sites as well as in hospitals and clinics. Audicor combines automated heart sound detection and analysis with advanced electrocardiography performance in a point-of-care report. Delphi Medical will offer Audicor as an integrated feature in its vital signs monitors to OEMs.

Entelos (Foster City, California) and Diabetech (Dallas) reported a collaboration to combine their respective PhysioLab and GlucoDynamix system capabilities to improve outcomes for people living and working with Type 1 diabetes, including accelerating the development of an artificial pancreas. The companies will initiate a clinical trial to investigate the combined use of both device and platform within a Virtual-Loop system to provide real-time monitoring and feedback and predict insulin requirements to better maintain glucose control. The Virtual-Loop simplifies the collection, storage and analysis of patient data by connecting devices, people and remote computer systems in real time from various locations. Using Diabetech's GlucoMON wireless glucose meter and the GlucoDynamix diabetes intervention system, clinical trial studies are documenting the benefits of automated access to real-time physiological data as a way to improve disease management and patient care. The Entelos Metabolism PhysioLab platform is a large-scale, mathematical model of human metabolism describing carbohydrate, lipid and amino acid metabolism and includes detailed representations of gastric emptying, intestinal nutrient absorption, and pancreatic hormone release, as well as nutrient uptake, release, utilization and storage in tissues. Within this platform, Entelos has created more than 125 diverse "virtual patients," including insulin-resistant and diabetic patient types.

GE Healthcare (Waukesha, Wisconsin) said it has received a contract award from HealthTrust Purchasing Group (HPG; Brentwood, Tennessee), a healthcare group purchasing organization, to make GE Healthcare's imaging technologies available to patients served by HPG members. GE Healthcare said it has signed three "significant" agreements with HPG and will be a contract vendor for HPG's more than 1,500 hospitals, surgery centers, diagnostic imaging centers and physicians. The agreements, each three years in length, cover mammography, ultrasound, computed tomography, MRI, positron emission tomography, nuclear medicine, angiography labs, cardiac cath labs, portable and general X-ray, and radiography and fluoroscopy systems. The agreements add to the existing radiology, cardiology, bone mineral densitometry, surgical C-arms, anesthesia, infant care and monitoring products and services that GE already supplies to HPG members under other agreements.

Lumenis (Yokneam, Israel), a global maker of laser and light-based devices for medical, aesthetic, ophthalmic, dental and veterinary applications, reported its plans to partner with AestheticPC.com to distribute its clinical management software with each new Lumenis aesthetic laser sold in the U.S. AestheticPC is a software company focused on web-based applications specifically designed for aesthetic practices.

Medical Services International (MSI; Edmonton, Alberta) has signed agreements with medical equipment and device distributors doing business in Panama and Costa Rica for distribution of its VScan rapid HIV 1 & 2 test kits in those countries. MSI said that in consideration of several factors, including the existence of prostitution in both countries, and Panama's mandatory HIV testing laws for women intending to work in prostitution, "it is reasonable to expect that these two countries will require up to 300,000 HIV 1&2 test kits in the first full year of distribution." Panama also requires that foreign travelers who change their visa status once in the country take an HIV test administered by the Panamanian government.

Smiths Medical (St. Paul, Minnesota) was awarded a three-year contract by Premier Purchasing Partners (San Diego) to offer Smiths Medical TruFlow Hemodialysis Catheters to nearly 200 Premier hospitals and healthcare systems, comprised of more than 1,500 hospital facilities in the U.S.

Spacelabs Medical (Issaquah, Washington), a man- ufacturer of patient monitoring systems, and Nellcor (Pleasanton, California) a developer of pulse oximetry systems, reported that they have teamed up for a global technology alliance enabling Spacelabs to offer Nellcor's OxiMax pulse oximetry technology as an integrated part of Spacelabs' UltraviewSL patient monitoring products.