ADAC Laboratories (Milpitas, California) has signed a three-year group purchasing agreement with Novation (Irving, Texas), the supply company of VHA Inc. and the University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC), to provide positron emission tomography and nuclear medicine imaging equipment to VHA and UHC members. ADAC estimates that VHA and UHC members are expected to purchase an estimated $15 million worth of products from the company during the first year of the contract. Novation manages nearly $15 billion in annual purchases for 6,600 health care organizations nationwide. The agreement also extends to health care organizations that purchase supplies through Healthcare Purchasing Partners International, a company that markets Novation agreements to organizations outside VHA and UHC.

ArthroCare (Sunnyvale, California) said that Stryker (Kalamazoo, Michigan) has agreed to license ArthroCare's patents for Coblation technology. The license, which is worldwide and nonexclusive, covers single electrode bipolar devices in arthroscopy. Stryker will pay ArthroCare an initial license fee and ongoing royalty payments on worldwide sales of its SERFAS arthroscopy product set. The license agreement also establishes a procedure for resolution of certain potential intellectual property disputes without litigation. Further details were not disclosed. ArthroCare makes products based on its patented Coblation technology.

Biosyntech Canada (Laval, Quebec, Canada) said it signed a collaborative agreement with Biomet (Warsaw, Indiana) in which BST-GEL will be studied as a carrier for growth factor and gene delivery to accelerate fresh fracture repair of bones. BST-GEL, which comes as a liquid formulation, is injected in the body and reacts to normal body temperature to form a soluble gel allowing for the retention and controlled release of incorporated therapeutics without affecting their molecular structure.

Bio-Technology General (BTG; Iselin, New Jersey) entered into an agreement with DePuy Orthopaedics (Warsaw, Indiana), a Johnson & Johnson company, for BioHy, BTG's proprietary high-molecular-weight sodium hyaluronate product for the treatment of pain associated with osteoarthritis of the knee. DePuy now will have exclusive marketing rights to BioHy in all countries except Japan and Israel. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Harvest Technologies (Norwell, Massachusetts) has signed a licensing agreement with DePuy AcroMed (Raynham, Massachusetts). The agreement provides DePuy AcroMed with exclusive rights for distribution in the U.S., Canada and Latin American of Harvest's SmartPReP Platelet Concentrate System in the orthobiologics market, and an exclusive 18-month option for Europe and Asia. Preliminary distribution activities are already under way across the United States. A national release is planned for later this year. Harvest Technologies makes systems that target the demand for surgical solutions using the patient's own blood. DePuy AcroMed makes spinal products.

Micro Therapeutics (MTI; Irvine, California) has entered into an amended distribution agreement with Abbott Laboratories (Abbott Park, Illinois). MTI's direct sales force will have primary responsibility for marketing and sales of its peripheral blood clot therapy products in the U.S. and Canada, and MTI will receive a greater portion of the profit margin from end-user sales than provided for in the original agreement.

Terumo Cardiovascular Systems (Ann Arbor, Michigan) and Fresenius HemoCare GmbH have signed a distributor and license agreement appointing Terumo the exclusive distributor for the Fresenius C.A.T.S systems in the U.S. Terumo makes CAPIOX, Sarns and CDI brand products used in cardiac surgery to the U.S. and other global markets. The Fresenius C.A.T.S system is used primarily in cardiac surgery, as well as orthopedic surgery and trauma centers. Terumo Cardiovascular Systems is a subsidiary of Terumo Medical, the U.S. subsidiary of Terumo Corp. of Japan. Fresenius HemoCare is a unit of the Fresenius Health Care Group.

Vista Medical Technologies (Carlsbad, California) and Jomed (Helsingborg, Sweden) signed an exclusive distribution agreement and a cooperative technology agreement relating to Vista Medical's Series 8000 3-D Visualization and Information System. Jomed will act as the worldwide exclusive distributor of the Series 8000 in cardiac and related radiological markets. Both companies will also cooperate on developing enhancements for the Series 8000 to enhance its use as the standard visualization platform for the endoscopic placement of Jomed's SOLEM GraftConnector and in other applications in cardiac surgery and interventional cardiology.

Vivus (Mountain View, California) said it entered into a distribution and marketing agreement granting Abbott Laboratories (Abbott Park, Illinois) exclusive rights for Muse and Alibra in Europe, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, South America and Central America. Abbott also has the option to co-develop and license future Vivus transurethral products to treat male erectile dysfunction in these territories. Muse and Alibra are Vivus' erectile dysfunction products. Muse is on the market in the U.S., while Alibra is under regulatory review in the U.S. and Europe.