AMI Semiconductor (AMIS; Pocatello, Idaho), a maker of integrated mixed-signal and structured digital products, confirmed its intention to focus on growing its medical business at a more rapid pace than the current market. AMI's reinforced focus on the medical market is underlined, it said, by the acquisition of Dspfactory, along with an increased effort and investment in meeting the demands of the medical implantable applications and continued focus on ultra-low-power, mixed-signal technology. With the acquisition of Dspfactory, a provider of ultra-low power digital signal-processing (DSP) technology for digital hearing aids and other low-power medical devices, AMIS said it gains mixed-signal DSP experience in hardware and product design, and software experience in algorithm development for implantable medical devices.

ArthroCare (Sunnyvale, California), a developer of minimally invasive surgical products, completed its acquisition of Opus Medical (San Juan Capistrano, California), a maker of soft-tissue orthopedic repair systems. ArthroCare acquired Opus for $30 million in cash and $60 million of ArthroCare stock. The agreement also calls for an additional delayed payment of $40 million and a contingent payment based on Opus' 2005 net sales, payable in cash or stock at ArthroCare's election in 1Q06. ArthroCare said Opus's first commercial product, the AutoCuff Anchoring System, is designed to enable surgeons to perform total arthroscopic rotator cuff surgery in combination with arthroscopic tissue modification or ablation devices, such as ArthroCare's Coblation-based ArthroWands.

CardioTech International (Wilmington, Massachusetts) reported the execution of a definitive agreement to acquire CarTika Medical (Plymouth, Minnesota); a private medical device contract manufacturer, for an undisclosed price. CarTika specializes in complete catheter assemblies, injection molding, pad printing and thermoformed polymer products.

Henry Schein (Melville, New York) has acquired Barton-Cyker Dental Supply (Windsor, Connecticut), a privately owned, full-service distributor of dental products serving practitioners primarily in New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Jersey. The Barton-Cyker operations will become part of Henry Schein's U.S. dental business, Sullivan-Schein Dental.

Merge Technologies (Milwaukee, Wisconsin), doing businesses as Merge eFilm, a healthcare software and services company, and AccuImage Diagnostics (South San Francisco, California), a developer of software for advanced visualization, analysis and management of medical imaging data, have signed a definitive agreement in which Merge eFilm will acquire AccuImage Diagnostics. The all-cash transaction is valued at roughly $6 million and is expected to close in 1Q05. The AccuImage software portfolio is used by radiologists and specialty physicians such as cardiologists, gastroenterologists, pulmonologists and orthopedic surgeons.

Merit Medical Systems (South Jordan, Utah), a manufacturer of disposable products used primarily in cardiology and radiology procedures, said it has signed an asset purchase agreement with privately held MedSource Packaging Concepts (Richmond, Virginia), a custom packager that serves the needs of hospitals and other healthcare providers. The agreement calls for Merit to acquire all assets and assume certain contracts, and in return, Merit will pay off certain liabilities of MedSource, totaling about $850,000 in cash. The packaging operations will remain in Richmond as a division of Merit and be known as Merit MedSource.

Real-Time Radiography (RTR; Pleasanton, California) has completed its merger with Exxim Computing (also Pleasanton). The combined company will continue to conduct a portion of its R&D activities in Israel. The surviving company is RTR, a developer of flat-panel detector panels used in digital X-ray systems sold to OEM medical imaging companies. Horst Bruning PhD, formerly the majority shareholder of Exxim, becomes president of RTR's Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) division as a result of the merger.

Sonic Innovations (Salt Lake City) reported that it would purchase Tympany (Houston), a private audiological diagnostic equipment firm, thereby expanding access to the U.S. hearing healthcare market, through the creation of a new network, The Hearing Health Network. Sonic will make an up-front payment of $2 million in cash and Sonic Innovations stock and what Sonic termed "a significant earn-out over three years depending on combined company results."

W. L. Gore & Associates (Flagstaff, Arizona) said it has acquired substantially all of the assets of ArteriA Medical Science (San Francisco), a privately held manufacturer of the Parodi Anti-Emboli System (PAES and PAES II) and other related devices. The PAES uses flow reversal technology for use during carotid revascularization to minimize the risk of stroke as a potential complication. The PAES consists of a guiding catheter with an elastomeric balloon that is inflated in the common carotid artery below the stenotic lesion being treated, and a hollow wire with an elastomeric balloon at its tip to occlude the external carotid artery. An outside connector with a filter creates an external arteriovenous fistula (by connecting sideport of the arterial and venous introducers). With the addition of the PAES, Gore said it expands its product portfolio of endovascular/interventional products into neuro-interventional clinical applications.