Angeion (St. Paul, Minnesota) completed two transactions to divest more portions of its implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) technology in two separate transactions. First, it sold to Medtronic (Minneapolis, Minnesota) certain unfiled patent disclosures relating to cardiac stimulation devices and granting that company what it described as "a one-way, nonexclusive, fully paid-up, royalty-free license for its cardiac stimulation technology." The companies also will release each other from any patent infringement claims for products sold or used prior to the closing date. In the deal, Medtronic will pay Angeion $9 million. Angeion also closed deals with ELA Medical and Sanofi-Synthelabo (Paris), selling to the two companies various assets and liabilities related to the manufacture and sale of cardiac stimulation devices. Sanofi-Synthelabo surrendered to Angeion 745,994 shares of Angeion common stock and warrants to purchase an additional 1.9 million shares, including warrants to purchase 909,017 shares at 10 cents a share. Angeion also granted to ELA what it described as a "one-way, nonexclusive, fully paid-up, royalty-free license" for its cardiac stimulation technology.

BCAM International (Melville, New York), parent company of LungCheck, has purchased the secured debt holding of Intelligent Medical Imaging (IMI), debtor in possession, from Edwards and Angell LLP. BCAM said it makes the purchase with the intent to fund the Chapter 11 reorganization of Intelligent, which makes automated microscopy systems used worldwide in hospitals and large clinical laboratories. IMI filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November 1999. Michael Strauss, chairman and CEO of BCAM, said the company is developing :technology, products, and business opportunities with a focus on disease detection, screening, diagnosis, prognosis, and therapeutic monitoring, and that IMI's activities are "synergistic with the company's plan to provide high-throughput testing capabilities to clinical laboratories."

ImuMed International (Hamilton, Bermuda) said it will acquire all capital stock of Symbolistics, a British maker of near-patient diagnostic devices. Symbolistics holds or has rights to acquire the patents and technology for the manufacture of symbol agglutination readers (SAR) used in blood grouping. The acquisition is subject to ImuMed's raising $2 million in financing through an offering of ordinary shares, acquisition of the SAR patents and technology, and completion of due diligence, with completion no later than June 30. At closing, Symbolistics will become an ImuMed subsidiary. ImuMed is the parent corporation of ImuMed Deutschland GmbH, a German biotech and pharmaceutical manufacturing group specializing in blood typing and related serological products.

International Remote Imaging Systems (IRIS; Chatsworth, California) said it will sell its Perceptive Scientific Instruments (PSI) business to a "well-known international company," which it did not name. The price of the sale will range from $2.5 to $5 million, with the final value dependent on remaining due diligence and "the satisfaction of certain conditions," according to IRIS. PSI makes and markets the PowerGene line of genetic analyzers. Dr. John O'Malley, IRIS' chairman, CEO and president, said the divestiture is part of the company's plan to "get back to basics and concentrate primarily on our urinalysis business."

Moria (Antony, France), a developer of ophthalmic surgical instruments and refractive surgery products, said it will purchase Microtech (Doylestown, Pennsylvania), its U.S. distributor. Terms were not disclosed. Officials of the two companies said the merger will strengthen Moria's ability to compete in the U.S. LASIK vision correction market and allow the merged firm to provide better products, service, and education to the international ophthalmic markets.

Roche (Basel, Switzerland) has agreed to acquire the medical instruments division of AVL (Graz, Austria). Financial terms were not disclosed, and the acquisition is subject to approval by regulatory authorities. AVL is a supplier of blood gas and electrolyte analyzers, as well as a supplier of sensor technology for diagnostics. The AVL product line encompasses both high-throughput benchtop analyzers and small, near-patient testing devices.

Ventana Medical Systems (Tucson, Arizona), a developer of automated histology instrument-reagent systems, has acquired the assets of Quantitative Diagnostics Laboratories (QDL), a specialty reference lab that provides quantitative immunohistochemistry (IHC) and also is involved in cancer research. "We view our acquisition of QDL as a key element of our strategy to enter the automated cellular image analysis market," commented Chris Gleeson, Ventana president and CEO.

Xtrana (Denver, Colorado) and Biopool International (Ventura, California) said they will merge. Xtrana (formerly Molecular Innovations) was formed in 1998 based upon proprietary nucleic acid (DNA/RNA) testing technologies that have applications in markets such as genomic research, high-throughput screening in drug discovery, testing for genetic markers or predisposition to disease, detection of food and environmental contaminants, and testing for clinically important pathogens. Xtrana's SCIP (Self Contained Integrated Particle) device, combines into a single device the three essential steps of DNA analysis – extraction, amplification, and detection. Biopool makes and sells diagnostics products, including test kits for evaluating cardiovascular risk factors.