Alaris Medical (San Diego, California) said that its operating company, Alaris Medical Systems, has entered into an agreement with Curlin Medical (Huntington Beach, California) to distribute the 2000 Plus Ambulatory Infusion Pump in the U.S. and Canada. The pump will be marketed to the U.S. alternate site and hospital infusion segments. Curlin is a maker of medical infusion therapy instruments and disposables. Alaris Medical Systems makes intravenous infusion therapy systems and patient monitoring products.

Baxter Healthcare (Deerfield, Illinois) and RF Technologies (Brookfield, Wisconsin) have signed an agreement under which Baxter will market RF Technologies' ExacTrack Sovereign Powered System to hospitals and health care systems throughout North America. RF Technologies is the exclusive distributor of Sovereign Tracking Systems LLC, developer of the asset-tracking technology. The PC-based ExacTrack System uses radio frequency technology to track and locate mobile medical equipment. Under the agreement, the ExacTrack System will be marketed by Baxter in conjunction with its line of electronic intravenous infusion pumps. Baxter's national sales force will distribute the ExacTrack System in hospitals and health care facilities in the U.S. and Canada.

Masimo (Irvine, California), maker of Signal Extraction Pulse Oximetry, signed a two-year agreement with HealthTrust Purchasing Group (HPG; Nashville, Tennessee), a group purchasing organization, to provide Masimo SET pulse oximetry to its hospital group. HPG's membership includes hospitals, surgery centers, clinics, physicians, integrated delivery networks and affiliate members. Masimo makes medical signal processing technologies and products for the noninvasive monitoring of vital signs.

Matritech (Newton, Massachusetts) has entered into a distribution agreement with U.S. Summit (New York) in which U.S. Summit will become exclusive southeast Asian territories distributor of the point-of-care format of Matritech's NMP22 test for bladder cancer. The six-year agreement includes marketing fees, milestone payments and increasing levels of NMP22 purchases. Matritech plans to begin delivering product to southeast Asia this year. Financial terms were not disclosed. U.S. Summit is a marketing and distribution company specializing in marketing products in the human health care industry, including diagnostic and medical equipment and over-the-counter pharmaceuticals. Matritech is using its NMP technology, discovered at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and licensed exclusively to Matritech, to develop and commercialize serum-, cell- and urine-based NMP diagnostics that enable physicians to detect and monitor the presence of bladder, cervical, breast, colon and prostate cancers.

Medrad (Indianola, Pennsylvania) has been selected by RPI, one of the nation's largest group purchasing organizations for outpatient diagnostic imaging centers, as the exclusive supplier of vascular injector systems, magnetic resonance (MR) surface coils and MR accessory products. The three-year agreement covers 1,300 imaging centers located throughout the U.S. Medrad, an affiliate of Schering AG (Berlin, Germany), makes devices for the medical imaging industry.

Misonix (Farmingdale, New York) has exercised its right to the technology for a laparoscopic kidney tumor ablation device to be jointly developed with Focus Surgery (Indianapolis, Indiana). Misonix receives the right to manufacture and sell the device once it receives regulatory approval. Misonix also invested another $300,000 in Focus Surgery as convertible debt, with the proceeds going exclusively to completion of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) Phase III clinical trials. Misonix will fund the joint research and receive exclusive worldwide rights to the HIFU technology for kidney ablation.

Nycomed Amersham Imaging (London), a developer of medical diagnostics and a provider of radiotherapy products has been awarded a sole-source two year contract to provide TheraSeed to customers of Premier (Charlotte, North Carolina), a strategic alliance of hospitals and health care system. Theraseed is a palladium-103 prostate brachytherapy seed. Premier members and affiliates will be eligible to purchase TheraSeed, which Nycomed Amersham markets on behalf of Theragenics. This sole-source agreement runs for two years.

Premier (Charlotte, North Carolina) has awarded a multiyear contract ending June 2005 to SIMS Deltec (St. Paul, Minnesota) to provide CADD ambulatory infusion pumps and related disposables to more than 1,800 Premier hospital facilities and hundreds of other sites of care in all 50 states. Deltec makes CADD ambulatory infusion pumps and Port-a-Cath implantable access systems.

Venetec International (San Diego, California), which makes StatLock safety securement devices, said it has signed an agreement with Cook (Bloomington, Indiana) calling for Cook to include the StatLock Universal Plus securement device in all of its drainage catheter sets. Cook will have exclusive access to StatLock Universal Plus for drainage catheter securement over a two-year period. Cook's line of percutaneous drainage catheters is used for abscess, biliary and nephrostomy drainage, among other applications. Under an earlier agreement, Cook includes StatLock PICC and PICC Plus safety securement devices in its catheter sets for peripherally inserted central catheters, or PICCs. Venetec makes safety securement devices.