APO Health (Oceanside, New York) reported signing a letter of intent to acquire Advanced Hyperbaric Technologies, a privately held company that offers portable topical hyperbaric treatment within the wound-care community. Terms were not announced. Advanced Hyperbaric Technologies uses topical hyperbaric oxygen, pulsed directly into the wound site in a portable chamber providing a moist, sealed environment. The Portable THO Extremity Chamber is used by hospitals and wound care clinics, and also in the homes of outpatients. APO Health is a distributor of medical, dental and veterinary supplies.

Exten Industries (San Diego, California) said it finalized its acquisition of all outstanding shares of MultiCell Associates (MCA; Warwick, Rhode, Island) and will operate it as a wholly owned subsidiary. MCA owns the rights to patented technology for engineering human and other mammalian liver cells. These non-tumorigenic cells have applications for drug discovery and toxicological testing and could perform metabolic functions in liver-assist devices. Terms were not disclosed.

Hanger Orthopedic Group (Bethesda, Maryland) completed the sale of the manufacturing assets of its Seattle Orthopedic Group (SOGI) subsidiary's United States Manufacturing Co. (USMC; Pasadena, California) unit. Terms were not announced. Hanger board chairman Ivan Sabel said completion of the assets sale will permit the company to "concentrate on its patient-care and distribution businesses." The company said that SOGI's orthotics and prosthetics manufacturing business comprised a relatively small percentage of Hanger's revenues. Hanger plans to use approximately $15 million of the proceeds of the sale to reduce outstanding bank debt.

MedCath (Charlotte, North Carolina), a provider of cardiovascular services, said it has acquired a majority ownership interest in the Heart Hospital of New Mexico (Albuquerque, Mexico). The 55-bed hospital opened in October 1999 with a shared ownership structure that included MedCath, St. Joseph Healthcare System (SJHS) and two physician groups. Before completing the acquisition, MedCath owned 24%, SJHS owned 35% and the physician groups owned a combined 41%. In the acquisition, MedCath purchased 32% of the 35% interest held by SJHS and 13% of the 41% interest held by the physician partners. MedCath now holds 69% of the ownership interest in the venture. MedCath develops, owns and operates hospitals in partnership with cardiologists and cardiovascular surgeons.

Oxboro Medical (Minneapolis, Minnesota) said it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Surgidyne (also Minneapolis), a maker of closed-wound suction equipment and related disposables. Terms of the proposed deal were not disclosed. Oxboro makes single-use disposable medical supplies and medical and surgical devices.

Rofin-Sinar Technologies (Plymouth, Michigan) said it has completed the sale of the medical laser business segment of Carl Baasel Lasertechnik GmbH (Starnberg, Germany), its majority-owned subsidiary, to WaveLight Laser Technologie AG (Hamburg, Germany). Under the terms of the agreement, WaveLight Laser Technologie AG will acquire Carl Baasel Lasertechnik's laser systems for aesthetic surgical applications. Micro-applications such as fine cutting and welding or laser marking of surgical components are not part of the deal. WaveLight said the integration of the medical laser business – which will continue to be located in Stamberg – into its corporate structure should be fully accomplished by year's end. Further details of the transaction were not disclosed.

Thermo Electron (Waltham, Massachusetts) said its board of directors has approved the spin-off of the company's wholly owned Viasys Healthcare (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) subsidiary as a dividend to Thermo Electron shareholders. Thermo Electron said it expects to distribute approximately .1428 shares of Viasys Healthcare common stock for each share of Thermo Electron common stock held, with the final ratio to be based on the actual number of Thermo Electron shares outstanding on the Nov. 7 record date. Viasys Healthcare makes a variety of medical devices, instruments and specialty products for use in a range of health care services. Its Respiratory Care group makes instruments and equipment for the diagnosis and treatment of respiratory, circulatory and sleep-related disorders. The Neuro-Care group makes diagnostic and monitoring devices for nerve, brain, hearing and other disorders. The Medical/Surgical Products group makes surgical implant components, critical care tube-feeding systems, medical-grade polyurethanes and surgical barrier-control systems, as well as a line of wireless patient- monitoring systems. Viasys is developing products to address solutions for the diagnosis and treatment of asthma, stroke rehabilitation, advanced respiratory distress syndrome and systems used in the critical care and surgical arenas. It had revenues of approximately $346 million in 2000.

Universal Hospital Services (UHS; Bloomington, Minnesota) has signed a stock purchase agreement to acquire an unnamed regional movable medical equipment outsourcing company for a purchase price of $8.5 million. UHS is a provider of movable medical equipment to more than 5,200 customers through its equipment outsourcing programs.