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31 March 2008
The human body has a complex mechanism that causes blood to clot if a wound occurs – a desirable response under normal circumstances. But under certain clinical conditions, known as thrombotic disorders, this same mechanism can cause an unwanted clot or “thrombus” and is potentially life threatening.
Prothrombin Time (PT) is the most common way to express the clotting time of blood. The effectiveness of oral anticoagulants (substances that prevent the clotting of blood) can vary over time – variation in diet, alcohol consumption, illness and the use of other drugs can all affect PT. Oral anticoagulant dosages are adjusted according to PT test results; regular monitoring keeps the patient within the desired therapeutic range.
One of the most popular oral anticoagulants is warfarin, a blood thinner used by a large population of patients for a variety of medical conditions. Warfarin use
Blog, news1 |
29 November 2007
Buoyed by a recent stock offering, the Inverness Medical machine continues to gobble up companies as they consolidate the disease and health management service space.
The most recent acquisition of ParadigmHealth will cost the company $230 million in an all cash deal. Paradigm offers disease management services for the acutely ill, with a focus on newborns and cancer patients. The company, founded in 1991, reported $60 million in revenues over the past twelve months.
Inverness said it is buying the ParadigmHealth as part of an expansion into disease-management services from medical testing and diagnostics.
Inverness has been on a buying spree this past year, having acquired or made substantial investments in: Alere Medical, Biosite, Cholestech, Diamics, HemoSense and Quality Assured Services, Inc., among others.
We’ve followed a number of these deals in the past months including the fierce bidding war with Beckman Coulter that broke out over
Blog, news1 |
19 July 2007
Diamics, a Novato, CA-based company that develops molecular-based cancer screening and diagnostic systems, has secured a $6 million equity investment from Inverness Medical Innovations. The deal gives Inverness, a leading diagnostics company specializing in women’s health, 51% of the privately held firm.
Under the terms of the agreement, Inverness will help drive commercialization of Diamics’ products. It will provide strategic and hands-on assistance with assay development, product design, and manufacturing and distribution.
Diamics is developing products to improve the effectiveness of cervical cancer screening and to make the procedure less painful. Its FDA-cleared CerCol Cervical Cancer Collection System collects cellular and fractional histological material from the entire cervix with a single, soft-tipped device. The system is used together with Diamics’ Pap-Map system, which provides a “map” of the collected sample, to help guide physicians’ subsequent decisions about colposcopy and biopsy procedures.
Diamics’ point-of-care
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5 June 2007
Hayward, CA-based Cholestech is the latest diagnostics company to be acquired by Inverness Medical Innovations, an expanding Waltham, MA, company that’s been on a buying spree as of late. The $326 million bid for Cholestech marks Inverness’ eighth acquisition this year.
This deal may not garner as many headlines as the last — Inverness recently emerged victorious in a heated bidding ward with Beckman Coulter for Biosite — but it’s significant because it indicates a strategy by Inverness to strengthen its position in the cardiac testing market. (Biosite, among other things, makes a test for heart failure.)
Cholestech makes a range of diagnostics for measuring cholesterol, diabetes and heart disease. The cash-flow positive company currently has two products on the market: The LDX platform provides a complete lipid profile to assess heart-disease risk and blood cholesterol, and the GDX measures hemoglobin to monitor diabetic drug
Blog |
5 April 2007
Although some industry watchers cautioned last month that Beckman Coulter, with its $85-per-share buyout offer for Biosite, was overpaying, Inverness Medical Innovations apparently disagrees. The Waltham, MA-based company today upped the ante, issuing an unsolicited letter to Biosite, stating that it was prepared to acquire all Biosite shares that it doesn’t already own, for $90 a share (it currently owns 4.9%). But Beckman Coulter isn’t backing down. The company’s CEO, Scott Garrett, told The Wall Street Journal that his firm’s offer is “clearly superior to the unsolicited, highly speculative and conditional letter” from Inverness Medical.
A successful acquisition would bring either company an increased presence in the immunoassay testing market. Inverness, which currently specializes in pregnancy and fertility tests, has had its eye on expanding that focus for a while. In February, the firm inked a deal with Chembio Diagnostics for exclusive marketing
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