Cooper Surgical (CSI), a business of the Cooper Companies (Lake Forest, California), signed a supply agreement with Welch Allyn (Skaneateles Falls, New York) to provide private labeled medical devices and disposable products for sale and distribution. The agreement provides Cooper Surgical with a presence in the general practice and family practice markets in the U.S. and also in select international markets. CSI will continue to concentrate its direct sales force efforts on the OB/GYN specialty and said it will look to Welch Allyn to increase coverage to other primary care physicians offering women's health services.

Criticare Systems (CSI; Milwaukee, Wisconsin) said that it will enter the anesthesia equipment market sometime in 3Q01 via the integration of its five-agent solid state gas analyzer and Poet IQ Gas Monitor into Royal Medical's line of anesthesia equipment. A new CSI division has been created to manage this program, with the introduction to focus on international applications and domestic availability anticipated in late 2001. CSI makes patient monitoring systems and noninvasive sensors for hospitals and alternate health care environments throughout the world.

Data-Ray (Westminster, Colorado) has signed a two-year distribution agreement with E-Com Technology (Zhuhai, China) for E-Com to distribute Data-Ray medical display monitors, flat panels, graphic controllers and calibration software in China. E-Com is a developer of PACS (picture archiving and communication systems) in China. Data-Ray, a division of Nippon-Chemicon, makes monitors for medical, industrial and scientific imaging applications.

Deio (Helsinki, Finland) and WM-data Public Partner AB (Kristianstad, Sweden) have signed an agreement for WM-data to distribute Deio's information management products for anesthesia and critical care in Sweden, Denmark and Norway. A subsidiary of Instrumentarium and a sister company of Datex-Ohmeda, Deio provides systems for perioperative and critical care information management. WM-data is an IT company service customers in the Nordic area.

Norland Medical Systems (White Plains, New York) has signed an agreement with the Health Care Products division of Marconi Medical Systems (Cleveland, Ohio) to exclusively distribute in the U.S. and Canada the Genestone 190, a lithotripter that recently received PMA clearance from the FDA. Reynald Bonmati, chairman and CEO, said that with the introduction of the Genestone 190, Norland now is addressing "a different market altogether" – the urology market. Norland makes bone measurement systems used to assess bone mineral content and density.

Orion Medical Management (Tampa, Florida) said it renewed its contract with Agfa Medical Imaging (Ridgefield Park, New Jersey) to purchase Agfa imagers, including dry imagers and imaging networking components; ADC Compact and Solo computed radiography systems; ADC plates and cassettes; conventional x-ray equipment; film and media; film processors; and radiographic screens and cassettes. Orion is a management service organization specializing in physician practice groups.

Oxboro Medical (Minneapolis, Minnesota) reported appointing Professional Health Sales (PHS; Perkasie, Pennsylvania) and its national field sales organization as Oxboro's field sales representative in the U.S. PHS will promote and sell Oxboro's existing product lines to hospitals and, subsequent to the closing of Oxboro's announced acquisition of Sterion set for this month, the full line of Sterion Sterilization Container System products. Oxboro Medical assembles and markets single-use disposable medical supplies, and medical and surgical devices.

PeopleMed.com, a subsidiary of Global Med Technologies (Denver, Colorado), an e-health information technology company, and Cardiovascular Disease Management (CVDM), a joint venture of National Jewish Medical and Research Center and Western Cardiology (both of Denver, Colorado), said they will launch an Internet-based cardiovascular disease management program. The new program will combine PeopleMed.com's Internet-based disease management system with protocols developed by CVDM in collaboration with James Young, MD, medical director of the Kaufman Center for Heart Failure and head of the section of heart failure and cardiac transplant medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation (Cleveland, Ohio). The program will focus on managing patients with congestive heart failure and other cardiac diseases.

Sparta Surgical (Concord, California) has appointed PrimeSource Healthcare (Tucson, Arizona) as its U.S. sales representative for the marketing and sales of its proprietary Sparta Olsen line of disposable electrosurgical forceps. The partnership is projected to deliver more than $1 million in new revenue, Sparta Surgical said. PrimeSource sells directly into hospitals, alternate care sites and outpatient clinics. Sparta Surgical makes medical and surgical devices, primarily reusable and disposable electrosurgical and microsurgical instruments and accessories.

SSI Surgical Services (Orlando, Florida) has signed an agreement with Pilling Surgical to sell and market Surgical Services' line of surgical support services to hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers throughout the U.S.