ArthroCare (Sunnyvale, California) has granted the Gynecare division of Ethicon (Cincinnati, Ohio) exclusive worldwide rights to market Coblation-based products for laparoscopic and open surgical procedures for gynecological applications, excluding products for use throughout the reproductive tract. Gynecare will have the right to have ArthroCare manufacture gynecological surgical devices jointly developed by the companies, and Gynecare will have the rights to market those products worldwide. Financial details were not disclosed. In October, the FDA granted ArthroCare clearance to market Coblation-based surgical devices for open and laparoscopic approaches to a variety of specific gynecological indications, including removal of tumors, lysis of adhesions, hysterectomy, myomectomy, salpingo oophorectomy, endometriosis and other common gynecological procedures. Ethicon is a Johnson & Johnson (New Brunswick, New Jersey) subsidiary

B. Braun Medical (Bethlehem, Pennsylvania) has entered into an agreement with Curlin Medical (Huntington Beach, California) to distribute the Curlin 2000 Plus ambulatory electronic infusion pump in the U.S. The Curlin 2000 Plus is a five mode (PCA, continuous, TPN, intermittent and variable) therapy pump that operates on straight-line disposables and offers advanced safety features. The pump is intended for use in the alternate-site infusion therapy and hospital pain management markets. B. Braun said that the pump would complement its existing line of infusion pump products.

CTI (Knoxville, Tennessee) and Mobile PET Systems (San Diego, California) have entered into a three-year strategic partnership agreement for positron emission tomography (PET). The partnership includes the initial exclusive purchase of 20 PET imaging systems from CTI, PET radiopharmaceuticals from PETNet (a CTI subsidiary) and a capital investment by CTI in Mobile PET. CTI is a world leader in PET products and services, while Mobile PET provides hospitals and physicians in the U.S. and UK access to PET imaging systems integrated into mobile coaches or into stationary PET centers.

Cygnus (Redwood City, California) and Sankyo Pharma (Tokyo), a wholly owned subsidiary of Sankyo Co. Ltd., have signed a co-promotion agreement for the GlucoWatch Biographer in the U.S. Sankyo will pay Cygnus $10 million and, in exchange for its co-promotion activities, Sankyo will receive a percentage of the net sales of the GlucoWatch Biographer in the U.S. Cygnus and Sankyo will collaborate closely on all sales and marketing efforts via a joint sales and marketing committee. Sankyo will assign a 50-person specialty sales force to leverage its already established relationships with physicians having the highest potential for prescribing the GlucoWatch Biographer and will provide broader market coverage through its 450 primary care sales reps. Sankyo also will deploy 20 managed care account managers to obtain insurance reimbursement for the GlucoWatch Biographer. The GlucoWatch Biographer provides glucose readings automatically and noninvasively, up to three times an hour, for as long as 12 hours, day or night.

Cbyon (Palo Alto, California) signed a three-year contract with Premier (Chicago, Illinois), a group purchasing alliance with some 1,800 hospital and health care facility affiliates. The agreement offers image-guided surgery systems for ENT, neurosurgery and spinal surgery applications, providing access to the Cbyon Suite Surgical Visualization and Navigation System. The Cbyon Suite is an image-guided surgery system that enables 3-D visualization of patient-specific anatomy. Currently, the system is optimized for neurosurgery, sinus surgeries, and spinal surgeries.

Hologic (Bedford, Massachusetts), a provider of specialized medical imaging equipment for women's health and digital radiographic applications, has signed a three-year agreement with Novation (Irving, Texas) for purchase and sale of Hologic's digital radiographic systems. The agreement takes effect Jan. 15, and runs through Dec. 31, 2004. The agreement will cover purchase of Hologic's Epex and Radex direct-to-digital systems for general radiographic applications, and also designates Hologic as one of only two providers of digital chest X-ray systems. Novation manages more than $17 billion in annual purchases for 2,300 VHA Inc. and University HealthSystem Consortium members and their affiliates.

Impac Medical Systems (Mountain View, California, a provider of integrated clinical and administrative management systems for cancer specialists, has entered into a partnership with the EMS Wireless division of EMS Technologies (Norcross, Georgia) to integrate that firm's wireless technology with Impac's Multi-Access oncology management system. This system combines a practice management system with an electronic medical record.

Optical Sensors (OSI; Minneapolis, Minnesota) has executed a nonexclusive license agreement assigning certain rights to its self-calibrating hematocrit sensor to Moulton Industries (Mission Viejo, California). OSI will receive future royalties on sales of the sensor, which couples an optical measurement with the capacity for self-calibration. No specific financial terms were released.