Biofarm (Linfield, Pennsylvania) said one of its subsidiaries will purchase the principal assets of German medical equipment manufacturer Telmed GmbH. Telmed shareholders will own about 78% of the equity, and Biofarm will distribute one share of Telmed stock for each four shares of Biofarm stock to its shareholders. The assets acquired from Telmed include rights to all medical equipment products developed and to be developed by Telmed. Telmed's two lead products are the ANG-GIO-SKOPT, a hand-held device to diagnose blood flow rate, and ECG IR 2000, a hand-held electrocardiogram recorder for detection of arrhythmias.

Biomec (Cleveland, Ohio) has acquired InnoMedica (Minneapolis, Minnesota), a maker of cardiovascular implantable devices such as pacemaker wires and catheters. Biomec has been a part-owner of InnoMedica since 1998. Biomec Chairman and CEO Trevor Jones said acquisition of 100% of InnoMedica "will consolidate our cardiovascular device development and manufacturing activities in a single location," and added that the acquisition marked a continuation of his firm's expansion strategy to be represented in major biomedical locations in the U.S.

Boston Scientific (Natick, Massachusetts) said it will acquire the assets and intellectual property of Embol-X (Mountain View, California) in the field of percutaneous embolic protection devices for less-invasive procedures. Additionally Boston Scientific will acquire a 10% equity interest in Embol- X. Other terms were not disclosed. Embol-X's embolic protection technology is designed to reduce complications caused by embolic particles traveling in the bloodstream during an interventional procedure. The purchase should create more rapid development of both the percutaneous and surgical applications of the technology, according to Boston Scientific, specifically in saphenous vein graft procedures, with indications for the carotid artery and renal arteries to follow.

Somanetics (Troy, Michigan), developer of the INVOS Cerebral Oximeter, reported purchasing the exclusive licenses to a cardiac implant device – called Surgical Anterior Ventricular Restoration (SAVR) – being developed for use in a surgical treatment for congestive heart failure. During SAVR, the surgeon remodels an enlarged, poorly functioning left ventricle to more normal size and function by inserting an implant intended to minimize leaking. Terms of the purchase were not released. Somanetics said it will develop and market the device under the trade name CORrestore. An issued patent covering the device includes 12 claims, and 72 additional claims are under consideration. "Our approach indicates that SAVR may revolutionize the way we treat heart failure and dramatically improve patient health," said Gerald Buckberg, MD, one of the patent holders. Somanetics' INVOS Cerebral Oximeter monitoring system provides the medical team with regional brain blood oxygen saturation information on a noninvasive and continuous basis.

The new U.S. subsidiary of World Heart (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) will acquire the business of Novacor (Oakland, California), the ventricular-assist device operation of Edwards Lifesciences (Irvine, California). Edwards will receive $58 million in preferred shares of the WorldHeart subsidiary, exchangeable at Edwards' option into approximately 24.9% of the common shares of WorldHeart. Other terms of the agreement include Edwards investing $29 million in redeemable preferred shares of WorldHeart; Edwards remaining exclusive distributor of Novacor products and exclusive worldwide distributor of HEARTSAVERvad and future WorldHeart heart-assist products; and Edwards supplying valves and engineering support to WorldHeart for both Novacor and the HEARTSAVERvad products. "This agreement is an excellent union, blending the product and experience of Novacor in the current generation of pulsatile ventricular assist devices (VAD), with the next generation of fully implantable pulsatile VAD, WorldHeart's HEARTSAVERvad, supported by the valve and engineering expertise of Edwards and distributed around the world," said Michael Mussallem, Edwards chairman and CEO. The transaction was set for a late-June closing.