Health Imaging & IT - February 2008 - (Page 10)

NEWS UPDATE In the Courts J&J wins stent patent appeal The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C., has upheld two separate 2005 jury verdicts that found Medtronic and Boston Scientific infringed coronary stent patents owned by Johnson & Johnson’s subsidiary Cordis. Cordis said it now intends to ask the U.S. District Court in Delaware to reinstate the damages judgments of $271 million against Medtronic, and $324 million against Boston Scientific. Cordis also noted that injunctive relief was not relevant, because Medtronic’s GFX and Microstent II bare metal stents (BMS), and Boston Scientific’s NIR BMS are no longer on the market. Both patent infringement cases were originally tried in 2000, with Cordis receiving favorable jury verdicts. BUSINESS BUZZ  FUJIFILM MEDICAL SYSTEMS USA will phase out the production of medical imaging film products at Fujifilm Manufacturing USA in Greenwood, S.C. The company anticipates the phase-out to be completed by April 1. Fujifilm said that over the past decade, the medical imaging industry has undergone a transition from the use of medical imaging film to digital image acquisition and softcopy diagnosis via PACS. Fujifilm will consolidate the production of all medical film to one facility in Japan. MAYO CLINIC and IBM have created a collaborative research facility aimed at advancing medical imaging technologies to improve the quality of patient care. A team of Mayo and IBM researchers and development staff will approach the potential projects: maximum-resolution organ imaging; image-guided tumor ablation; video swallow analysis to visualize and compare how stroke patients swallow; and automated change detection and analysis designed to allow physicians to compare a new image with a previous one. GE HEALTHCARE has created a vendor-independent educational program designed for biomedical and technical professionals to enhance their knowledge of IT concepts for healthcare. GE said its healthcare IT curriculum identifies IT skills critical to servicing and supporting today’s integrated and networked medical devices, offering an educational program to support the biomedical community, regardless of equipment or vendor choice. VITAL IMAGES’ board of directors has accepted the resignation of CEO Jay D. Miller and has appointed Michael H. Carrel as president and CEO. Miller will remain on the board until May 2008. Hologic sues SenoRx over brachytherapy patent infringement Hologic and its wholly owned subsidiary, Cytyc, have filed a lawsuit against SenoRx in the U. S. District Court, Northern District of California, San Jose Division. According to SenoRx, the complaint alleges patent infringement of certain Hologic brachytherapy patent claims seeking unspecified monetary damages and an injunction against SenoRx for infringement of certain Hologic patents.  MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS Philips to acquire Respironics for $5.1B to expand home monitoring portfolio Royal Philips Electronics and Respironics have signed a definitive merger agreement to which Philips will commence a tender offer to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Respironics for a total purchase price of $5.26 billion to be paid in cash upon completion. Philips said the transaction will add to its product categories in obstructive sleep apnea and home respiratory care. In addition, the company said the acquisition will complement Philips’ patient monitoring businesses in the hospital setting. The transaction is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2008.  CML agrees to $151M for American Radiology Services acquisition Advent International, a global buyout firm, has entered into a definitive agreement to sell American Radiology Services (ARS), a provider of diagnostic medical imaging services, to CML HealthCare Income Fund for $151 million. Elekta intends to acquire CMS for $75M Elekta Group, a clinical solutions company for radiation therapy and radiosurgery, has begun negotiations based on a letter of intent to acquire CMS, a developer of computerized radiation therapy treatment planning systems, for a total cash consideration representing an enterprise value of $75 million. The transaction is subject to final transaction documentation, completion of diligence and receipt of relevant regulatory approvals. The negotiations are expected to be finalized by mid-February, and closing is estimated to take place by mid-March.  STAY CONNECTED: For daily news, log onto HealthImaging.com 10 Health Imaging & IT | February 2008 HealthImaging.com http://HealthImaging.com http://HealthImaging.com

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Health Imaging & IT - February 2008 Contents On the Web The Enterprise News Update Cover Story: Enterprise Image Management Makes the Grade Modality Update Special Section: Health IT: Image Management Special Section: Health IT: PCs on the Move Convention Spotlight Technology Outlook Technology Update Reader's Resource Stat Sheet

Health Imaging & IT - February 2008

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