Akorn (Buffalo Grove, Illinois) said that as part of a settlement of its dispute with Novadaq Technologies (Toronto, Ontario), the companies have revised their prior agreement relative to the development of a cardiovascular diagnostic technology using Akorn's IC-Green (indocyanine green) product. Under the terms of the revised agreement, Novadaq will assume all further costs associated with developing the technology and Akorn, in consideration for foregoing any share of future net profits, will obtain an equity ownership position in Novadaq and the right to be the exclusive supplier of IC-Green for use in Novadaq's diagnostic procedures. Novadaq and Akorn have agreed to withdraw the arbitration proceedings with respect to alleged breaches of the previous agreement between the two companies. IC-Green is a fluorescent dye that is used in various diagnostic applications to diagram blood flow in particularly small vascular areas.

St. Jude Medical (St. Paul, Minnesota) and Catholic Healthcare West (CHW; San Francisco, California) unveiled a comprehensive purchasing agreement for St. Jude Medical's cardiac rhythm management products tailored for Catholic Healthcare West's 41 member hospitals in California, Arizona and Nevada. Catholic Healthcare West is the largest Catholic healthcare system and one of the largest integrated hospital delivery networks in the U.S. The agreement covers a broad range of cardiovascular products and technologies from St. Jude Medical, including pacemakers and implantable cardioverter defibrillators. The agreement also provides access to all existing and future bradycardia and tachycardia technologies from St. Jude.

SonoSite (Bothell, Washington) and Broadlane (San Francisco, California), a provider of supply chain management services to the health care industry, have signed a two-year purchasing agreement to provide Broadlane customers access to SonoSite hand-carried ultrasound systems. The contract covers the SonoSite 180PLUS and SonoHeart PLUS systems and will provide Broadlane customers with access to these products at preferred prices and terms. Broadlane's customer base of more than 300 acute care hospitals and more than 1,400 sub-acute care facilities will have access to SonoSite's hand-carried ultrasound systems. The agreement provides the SonoSite 180PLUS system for general imaging, including applications in emergency medicine, interventional radiology, obstetrics and gynecology, radiology, surgery and vascular imaging. Additionally, the SonoHeart PLUS device will be provided to Broadlane customers for applications in cardiology.