MedicalCV (Minneapolis, Minnesota) reported acquiring the exclusive licensing rights to manufacture and distribute the IMA Access Retractor, a device designed to improve harvesting of the internal mammary artery, the vessel usually used in heart bypass surgery, from the inner chest cavity. The IMA Access Retractor also is designed to function with existing sternal retractors, "potentially making the procedure faster and easier for the surgeon to perform, as well as less painful and with fewer potential complications," MedicalCV said. Terms of the agreement with an unnamed inventor group were not disclosed. MedicalCV said it will begin selling the device worldwide within three months. A patent is pending for the device

NMT Medical (Boston, Massachusetts) reported selling its neurosciences business to Integra LifeSciences Holdings (Plainsboro, New Jersey) for $5.4 million in cash in a transaction structured as a sale of stock of the subsidiaries comprising the neurosciences business. The neurosciences unit serves neurosurgeons with a range of implantable, single-use products, including cerebral spinal shunts and external drainage products. With this sale, NMT said it is moving forward with its business strategy to focus on what it termed "high growth" opportunities in its cardiovascular business, which designs, develops and markets implant technologies that allow interventional cardiologists to treat cardiac sources of stroke through catheter-based procedures. "This transaction is the culmination of our two-year effort to focus NMT's business exclusively on the growth opportunities that we see for our cardiovascular business unit," said John Ahern, president and CEO.