A Medical Device Daily

Novoste (Norcross, Georgia) and Best Vascular (Springfield, Virginia) jointly reported late Thursday the completion of the purchase by Best of substantially all of Novoste's vascular brachytherapy (VBT) business.

The companies had initially reported the transaction last October (Medical Device Daily, Oct. 14, 2005), and the Novoste shareholders' meeting, at which the proposal to approve the transaction was adopted, was held last week.

Consideration for the sale to Best was Best's assumption of various Novoste liabilities related to the VBT business. As part of the transaction, Novoste amended its charter to change its corporate name to NOVT Corp .

Krish Suthanthiran, president of Best, said the acquisition “fits our strategy of providing brachytherapy therapy products across a wide variety of clinical applications. It is of utmost importance that radiation therapy is available to cardiologists and their patients.

“The Novoste system is the only remaining vascular brachytherapy product on the market,“ he said, “and having previously supplied Cordis (Miami Lakes, Florida), a Johnson & Johnson (New Brunswick, New Jersey) company, with VBT products, we believe we have the capability to assure the continuation of this important therapy in the cardiology market.“

Suthanthiran added: “We remain committed to our radiation oncology customer base and look forward to serving the particular needs of the cardiology community with a therapy that has proven durable results.“

Best said it will formally launch its marketing of the Novoste BetaCath product at a breakfast meeting on April 5 at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City (Arlington, Virginia), in conjunction with the Cardiovascular Revascularization Therapies meeting. The symposium will feature presentations on the treatment of drug-eluting stent restenosis with vascular brachytherapy and five-year clinical follow-up data with the BetaCath system.

Al Novak, president and CEO of Novoste, termed the sale to Best “in the best interests of our shareholders by allowing Novoste to be free of its major liabilities associated with the VBT business.“

Best Vascular was established by Best Medical (also Springfield) for the purpose of focusing on the VBT acquired from Novoste.

Best Medical is known for its radiation seed products utilizing several different isotopes. The company also has a complete line of catheters, needles, templates and accessories, including custom-designed products. Best Medical said it develops “new ideas“ in brachytherapy, including VBT, and is a leader in the provision of radiation seeds for use by urologists in the treatment of prostate cancer.

The deal provides closure to what has been a rocky journey. The sale originally was contingent on a merger between Novoste and ONI Medical Systems (Wilmington, Massachusetts), which fell through last September after Novoste's shareholders failed to approve the issuance of shares of Novoste common stock required to complete the merger (MDD, Sept. 27, 2005).

In other dealmaking:

• PerkinElmer (Boston) reported acquiring the proteomics technology of Agilix (New Haven, Connecticut). Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

PerkinElmer said that Agilix has developed “a powerful labeling technology using isobaric mass tags that allows for the simultaneous quantification of molecules, such as proteins, from multiple samples.“ And it said it further strengthens its position “as the partner-of-choice to proteomic laboratories and researchers,“ and complements the launch of its BioXpressions platform and the recent announcement of a licensing agreement for the multiplexing bead-based technology from Luminex (Austin, Texas).

Perkin Elmer said that acquisition of this technology now brings quantitative proteomics to its customers in drug discovery and proteomics research. “Furthermore, it provides a powerful technique for enhancing the utility of mass spectrometry, a preferred method for proteomic analysis.“

It described the approach as key to determining the relative expression level of individual proteins from multiple samples with a high degree of precision. Samples are tagged and mixed early in sample processing workflow, enabling simultaneous sample analysis and eliminating errors caused by spurious variation seen in currently practiced serial processing workflows. This mass spectrometry-based approach allows unambiguous detection and identification of proteins without the use of analyte-specific reagents.

“The Agilix multiplex protein labeling technology represents a breakthrough in quantitative proteomics. This leading-edge technology reduces the process workflow in proteomics analysis, and enables more accurate studies in protein expression kinetics and pharmacodynamics,“ said Neil Cook, chief scientific officer, PerkinElmer Life and Analytical Sciences.

The technology was pioneered by professor Brian Chait of Rockefeller University (New York), who said, “the ability to determine changes in the levels of proteins as a function of time and circumstance is vital to gaining an understanding of complex biological systems.“

Robert Friel, president of PerkinElmer Life and Analytical Sciences, said the company would use the intellectual property acquired from Agilix “to develop a number of new technologies that will bring quantitative proteomics to a wider range of customers in drug discovery.“

PerkinElmer is focused developing systems for the health sciences and photonics markets.