Angiotech Pharmaceuticals (Vancouver, British Columbia), the provider of drug coatings for stents and other medical devices, closed its acquisition of NeuColl (Los Gatos, California) in an all-cash transaction of nearly $13 million. Previously, Angiotech had obtained an equity interest in NeuColl through the acquisition of Cohesion Technologies in January 2003. Angiotech said that NeuColl "will form one of the cornerstones" for its orthopedic biomaterials franchise. NeuColl's initial product platform is a synthetic bone graft substitute comprised of collagen, a composite material of hydroxyapatite and tricalcium phosphate. Zimmer (Warsaw, Indiana) has distribution rights for NeuColl's lead products, Collagraft and Neugraft Bone Graft Matrixes, in the U.S., Japan and other countries.

The Aristotle Corp. (Stamford, Connecticut) reported acquiring certain business assets related to the manufacture of a number of products, primarily training manikins used in the instruction of cardiopulmonary resuscitation, from CPR Prompt (Encinitas, California). Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Aristotle Corp. makes educational, health, medical technology and agricultural products, offering more than 80,000 items, primarily through catalogs. Its brands include Nasco, Simulaids, Triarco, Summit Learning, Hubbard Scientific, Scott Resources, Spectrum Educational Supplies, Haan Crafts and To-Sew. Products include biological materials, medical simulators and items for the agricultural, senior care and food industries.

Biotel (Minneapolis) reported completing the purchase of substantially all of the assets of Agility Centralized Research Services (Bannockburn, Illinois) for $240,000 in cash and up to an additional $260,000 in cash based on revenues, profits and the value of contracts generated by Biotel's newly-established subsidiary, Agility Centralized Research Services. Dan Pawlik, the owner of Agility, will be president of the new subsidiary. Founded in 2003, Agility provides electrocardiogram (ECG) data collection and management services supporting cardiac safety and therapeutic evaluation of clinical trials. Besides providing transtelephonic ECG recording and reporting services on a 24/7 basis worldwide to medical device manufacturers, Agility supplies ECG contract research services to pharma companies, contract research organizations and academic research organizations. Agility has sales and administrative offices in suburban Minneapolis and research service operations in suburban Chicago. In addition to Agility Centralized Research Services, Biotel's subsidiaries include OEM distributors Braemar and Carolina Medical, which manufacture 24- and 48-hour Holter recorders, 30-day ECG event recorders, tissue extraction components, flow measurement and control devices, and Advanced Biosensor, a developer of diagnostic cardiology software and systems.

MedCath (Charlotte, North Carolina), a healthcare provider focused on the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease, reported on two joint ventures to build and manage cardiac catheterization laboratories for North Carolina hospitals. The j-v initiatives, it said, are part of a plan to pursue partnerships to make MedCath's expertise in cardiovascular care available to existing providers. The agreements are with Grace Hospital in Morganton and Caldwell Memorial Hospital in Lenoir. Together with physician partners, MedCath owns and operates 13 hospitals with a total of 759 licensed beds in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Louisiana, New Mexico, Ohio, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin. In addition to its hospitals, MedCath provides cardiovascular care services in diagnostic and therapeutic facilities in various states and through mobile cardiac catheterization laboratories.

OrthoLogic (Tempe, Arizona) reported completing its acquisition of Chrysalis BioTechnology (CBI; Galveston, Texas) in a deal, valued at roughly $27.5 million, announced in late April. OrthoLogic paid CBI $2.5 million in cash and issued 3,462,124 shares of OrthoLogic common stock, valued at $25 million, for substantially all of CBI's assets and intellectual property. The transaction will be accounted for as an asset acquisition. Another $7 million in OrthoLogic common stock will be paid to CBI shareholders as milestones upon the occurrence of certain future events, including the acceptance for filing by the FDA of a new drug application for Chrysalin-based products. If the trigger is met, the additional $7 million will be added to the purchase price. The Chrysalin platform is a series of product candidates aimed at treating traumatic and chronic orthopedic indications in both bone and soft tissue as well as oral/maxillofacial bone repair, cardiovascular repair and wound healing. All of these potential products are based on the Chrysalin synthetic peptide, also known as TP508.

Synarc (Maynard, Massachusetts), a provider of specialized medical imaging and molecular marker services for global clinical trials, reported completing the acquisition of IoDP Medical Imaging Research (Paris), a provider of medical imaging services for clinical trials. Terms of the purchase were not disclosed. IoDP, founded 13 years ago, uses software tools for specialized image analysis for clinical trials. These include: technology enabling precise and reproducible measurements of the thickness of the intima of the carotid artery in atherosclerosis trials, left ventricle mass measurement, contrast enhancement of the left ventricle in magnetic resonance imaging, lung computed tomography analysis in asthma and retinal angiography analysis.