• Abbott (Abbott Park, Illinois) reported the availability of a fully automated hepatitis C virus (HCV) test in the U.S. for its widely used AxSYM automated immunoassay instrument system. With results within 23 minutes, the AxSYM Anti-HCV test provides laboratories with a quick and efficient test. The presence of antibodies to HCV indicate that an individual may have been infected with HCV in the past or have an ongoing infection. A microparticle enzyme immunoassay test, the AxSYM Anti-HCV test is designed for the qualitative detection of antibodies to HCV in human serum or plasma and is not intended for use in blood, plasma or tissue screening. Last year in the U.S., Abbott introduced two automated tests for the hepatitis A virus on the AxSYM system – AxSYM HAVAB-M 2.0 assay and AxSYM HAVAB 2.0. The company also has submitted an application to the FDA for its AxSYM hepatitis B tests, which currently are available outside of the U.S. The hepatitis tests are used for blood screening and diagnostic testing.

• B-K Medical (Copenhagen, Denmark), a wholly owned subsidiary of Analogic (Peabody, Massachusetts), has launched the Mini Focus, a high-performance portable, color ultrasound system. Weighing just 12.6 kg, the Mini Focus features high-quality color imaging using the latest technology in signal processing and a system referred to as fully digital beamforming. The system also offers color Doppler scanning and tissue harmonic imaging. The Mini Focus can accommodate a range of B-K Medical transducers. The company said it is the only portable ultrasound scanner on the market with a dedicated prostate transducer and biopsy attachment. Used with B-K's new high-frequency 8670 linear transducer, the scanner provides sharp images in the near field for small-part scanning. In areas where office urology is well established, the company said urologists can use the Mini Focus to expand into the diagnosis of diseases associated with impotence, incontinence and the kidney. In other regions, it said the general ultrasound market will benefit from a package that includes high-quality abdominal, musculoskeletal, breast, cardiac, small-part and vascular transducers. The ease of use and compact size of the Mini Focus are key advantages in emergency medicine, B-K said.

• DSG (Oaks, Pennsylvania), a clinical trials software provider, has released its newest version of the eCaseLink v6.0 electronic data capture (EDC) technology. This version adds a medical record imaging technology that allows users to review and integrate images with clinical data, the first in the data management industry, the company said. The product will be highlighted at the Drug Information Association's Clinical Data Management Symposium in Arlington, Virginia, April 3-5. DSG first introduced eCaseLink in 1999. It said the technology is the only web-based EDC solution in the industry that provides immediate cross-form, cross-visit or server edits without requiring the site user to submit and does not require any eCaseLink client software. The page-by-page technology allows for mid-study changes, additions and scalable interfaces without study interruptions or downtime, according to DSG.

• GE Healthcare (Waukesha, Wisconsin) reported a milestone for its Lunar Prodigy bone densitometer product with the 5,000th installation of the device at the offices of William Sunshine, MD, a rheumatologist in Boca Raton, Florida. The GE Lunar Prodigy uses direct digital technology that the company said has been proven to be the most precise method for bone density testing and represents the gold standard for detecting osteoporosis, a disease characterized by low bone mass and increased risk of fracture. Jennie Hanson, president of the Lunar division of GE Healthcare, said that more than two of three bone density systems sold worldwide are manufactured by GE. "In a single five-minute exam," she said, "clinicians can access critical information that will allow them to detect issues earlier, diagnose more precisely and make better treatment decisions."

• Genetronics Biomedical (San Diego), a developer of therapies using electroporation to deliver drugs and nucleic acids, said it has initiated a Phase I trial to treat pancreatic cancer using its MedPulser Tumor Ablation System. The FDA has granted Genetronics orphan designation for this indication. The primary endpoint of the study is to determine the safety profile of the MedPulser electroporation therapy in conjunction with intralesionally-injected bleomycin for the treatment of unresectable or incurable locally advanced pancreatic cancer. The secondary endpoints are to assess objective tumor response, patient pain, and weight loss over 24 weeks following electroporation therapy. Genetronics said it aims to complete enrollment of up to 12 patients by the end of 2005.

• Imcor Pharmaceutical (San Diego), which is developing a platform of imaging products, reported that the Hong Kong Patents registry issued a notification of allowance for a patent directed to the composition of matter for forming stabilized microbubbles using perfluorocarbons and other gases in various membrane-forming materials.

• Innocoll (Aston, Pennsylvania) said its wholly owned subsidiary, Syntacoll, has been granted two patents – U.S. patent No. 6,855,860, titled "Composite Dressings for Treatment of Wounds," issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and patent No. 1263485, titled "Multilayer Collagen Matrix for Tissue Reconstruction," issued by the European Patent Office. The U.S. patent covers a product comprised of a novel collagen-based composite material designed for the treatment of deep wounds, or wounds that penetrate the middle and deepest layers of skin, or dermis. These deep wounds occur in second- or third-degree burns and in a variety of acute and/or chronic skin disorders, such as leg ulcers and pressure ulcers. The European patent covers the use and manufacture of multi-layer collagen-based matrices for surgical applications including tissue and organ reconstruction.