A Medical Device Daily

Closure Medical (Raleigh, North Carolina) reported that on April 15, it filed a preliminary proxy statement relating to a special meeting of the company’s stockholders to vote on its pending merger with Johnson & Johnson (J&J; New Brunswick, New Jersey).

J&J disclosed its plans to purchase Closure in March for $370 million in cash and stock.

As previously disclosed, the pending merger is currently expected to close in 2Q05.

Closure is expected to operate as a stand-alone entity reporting through Ethicon (Somerville, New Jersey), a J&J company, with which Closure has worked since 1996 on the development of topical adhesives.

Closure develops a number of medical adhesives and delivery devices based on its medical-grade cyanoacrylate technology for specific applications in wound care and wound closure. This technology is found in the family of Dermabond Topical Skin Adhesive (2-octyl cyanoacrylate) products, marketed by Ethicon under an exclusive distribution agreement. It also is found in BAND-AID Brand Liquid Bandage and other products for consumer and veterinary use.

Maxant Technologies (Niles, Illinois) said that it has signed a joint venture agreement with Pro-Tech X-Ray (Tallassee, Alabama), a developer of X-ray protective apparel, forming a new company called Maxpro, which will manufacture a line of radiation protective apparel and accessories.

Maxant is a manufacturer of X-ray illuminators. It also produces specialty mammography, orthopedic, chiropractic and podiatry viewers. In addition to X-ray viewers, the company is a supplier of radiation protective apparel and eyewear to the diagnostic imaging marketplace.

In other dealmaking news, IBM (Armonk, New York) has agreed to buy Healthlink (Houston), the largest U.S. healthcare technology consulting services firm. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Healthlink is a privately held consultant with 625 employees whose revenue is on a $100 million annual run-rate. Employees of the 13-year-old Healthlink will join IBM’s Business Consulting Services unit once the deal is completed.

The Healthlink deal comes a week after IBM services rival Accenture (New York) agreed to pay $175 million for the 600 employees of the North American healthcare consulting practice of Capgemini (Paris), Europe’s largest consulting company.

Consultants are seeking to capitalize on the computer transformation of healthcare, one of the least automated sectors left, and one that is now undergoing a massive modernization push to automate medical record-keeping.

Together with Healthlink’s client list, all 12 of the top healthcare companies listed on the Global 500 will count as IBM customers, it said. Of the top 30 U.S. healthcare or hospital groups, Healthlink counts 23 as clients, the company added.

Ninety percent of Healthlink’s business is focused on the U.S. It also works for the National Health Service and private medical groups in the UK, and has clients in Southeast Asia and the Middle East.