A Medical Device Daily

PaperFree Medical Solutions (PMS; Scottsdale, Arizona) reported closing on the acquisition of KMS Computer Services (Kokomo, Indiana) as scheduled. Financial terms were not disclosed.

KMS bills itself as a provider of medical solutions for small- to large-sized medical practices and hospitals.

PMS is a provider of electronic medical records, practice management software systems and broadband wireless connectivity to the physician office, clinic and hospital.

Bill Sklar, president of PMS, said, "KMS offers many synergies to our company which will increase revenues, improve margins and open distribution for our MD PaperFree software into new markets."

Kensey Nash (Exton, Massachusetts) and Orthovita (Malvern, Pennsylvania) reported expansion of their existing relationship and have agreed to pursue co-development of soft tissue repair products for orthopedics.

In addition, the companies agreed to a lengthened term of their original co-development agreement signed in March 2003, which has led to the launching of four product lines in the last 12 months, "with more products planned," they said.

Similar to the original agreement, Kensey Nash will manufacture the new co-developed soft tissue products, and Orthovita will market and sell the products worldwide through its biomaterials distribution channel, with Kensey Nash receiving a royalty on the net sales. The new products are expected to be available for launch in calendar year 2006 pending receipt of regulatory clearances.

In addition, the first agreement, under which the Vitoss Foam products have been commercialized, has been extended until 2014.

"Our co-development activities with Orthovita have been very synergistic," said Joe Kaufmann, president and CEO of Kensey Nash. "With these new agreements, we are looking to build on the successful relationship we have already established with Orthovita, and to extend the clinical applications of our BioBlanket and other related soft tissue technologies."

"Orthovita continues to identify new clinical targets for biomaterials products in the orthopedic space," said Antony Koblish, president and CEO of Orthovita. "Kensey Nash's extensive development expertise, in combination with our own, has been very valuable for us quickly getting useful products to surgeons to meet their clinical needs. We are pleased to be able to expand and diversify our biomaterials franchise to include bone and now soft tissue management products."

Kensey Nash manufactures absorbable biomaterials-based products for the cardiology, orthopedics, spine, drug and biologics delivery, periodontal/dental, surgical and wound care markets.

Orthovita develops synthetic, biologically active, tissue engineered products for orthopedic and neurosurgical applications.