Arrhythmia Research Technology (ART) and its wholly owned subsidiary, Micron Products (both Fitchburg, Massachusetts), reported the completion of the consolidation of the recently acquired New England Molders (NEM) division into the newly renovated section of its Fitchburg facilities. James Rouse, ART president and CEO, reported relocation of NEM into about 30,000 square feet of renovated building space adjacent to the Micron Products complex in Fitchburg. ART, through Micron, produces silver-plated sensors and distributes metal snaps for manufacturers of disposable ECG electrodes and the NEM division manufactures injection-molded products for medical, electronic, industrial and consumer applications. The company's products also include proprietary signal-averaging electrocardiographic software used to detect potentially lethal heart arrhythmias.

Boston Scientific (Natick, Massachusetts) has agreed to acquire Advanced Stent Technologies (AST; Pleasanton, California). The transaction, whose terms were not disclosed, was expected to close early this year. Since its launch in 1997, AST has been developing stent and stent delivery systems designed to address the unique anatomical needs of coronary artery disease in bifurcated vessels. A significant percentage of coronary artery disease, as much as 30%, occurs when a single vessel branches or bifurcates into two vessels. Bifurcations have been difficult to treat with conventional stents, since those stents are designed to support a single cylinder, not a cylinder with an offshoot in the middle. When combined with Boston Scientific's paclitaxel-eluting stent technology (the Taxus paclitaxel-eluting DES), the Petal device also will deliver drugs to the bifurcated vessel, which should improve outcomes.

St. Jude Medical (St. Paul, Minnesota) reported completing the acquisition of Endocardial Solutions (ESI; also St. Paul) for $11.75 per share in cash for an aggregate price of about $272 million. St. Jude and ESI originally reported the agreement last September, and Endocardial Solutions shareholders last month adopted a merger agreement for ESI to become a St. Jude subsidiary. ESI makes the EnSite System used for the navigation and localization of diagnostic and therapeutic catheters employed for atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation and other electrophysiology catheterization procedures. The system also is used for the diagnostic mapping of abnormal heart rhythms with a 3-D graphical display of the heart's electrical activity. St. Jude said that ESI, with its "focus of increasing clinical adoption of its EnSite System for the diagnosis and treatment of AF and other arrhythmias," would become part of its Atrial Fibrillation Division.