Irvine’s Allergan Inc. (see story, page 3), is adding to its medical cosmetics business.
The maker of wrinkle-remover Botox, skin fillers, breast implants, eye drugs and other products bought the cosmetic surgery business of Medford, Mass.-based Serica Technologies Inc. for an undisclosed price.
Serica’s cosmetic surgery unit makes bio-degradable, silk-based grafts that are used to help regenerate human tissue in breast implant surgeries.
The device maker is “pleased that we further strengthened our pipeline” through the buy, Chief Executive David Pyott said on Allergan’s most recent earnings call.
Allergan’s breast implant business accounted for $77.8 million in revenue in the fourth quarter, up 10% from a year earlier.
The company has quarterly sales of about $1 billion.
Allergan plans to continue to operate the Serica unit out of its office, research and development unit and plant in Medford.
The deal didn’t include rights to Serica’s orthopedic or veterinary products, which were spun off into a separate company, Alacer Biomedical Inc.
Serica was formed in 1998 and raised about $24 million in financing from Hong Kong-based Morningside Technology Ventures, Prism Venture Management LLC of Needham, Mass., and Montvale, N.J.-based Ivy Capital Partners LLC.
Beckman Shuttering Plant
Brea-based Beckman Coulter Inc. has told Texas officials it’s closing a plant in Webster, a Houston suburb.
Beckman, a maker of instruments and supplies used in medical laboratories and by researchers, sent a letter to the Texas Workforce Commission saying it will close the facility in October, the Houston Business Journal reported.
The company said it would lay off 19 scientists and technicians by April 15. Beckman laid off 11 people at the Webster plant in November.
At that time, Beckman’s Webster facility had 92 full-time employees and five temporary workers.
UCI Medical Building
The University of California, Irvine’s School of Medicine has a new dean, Ralph Clayman. It also has a new building for students.
The school opened a $40.5 million, 65,000-square-foot building earlier this month that is set to be the center of nearly all non-hospital-related educational activities for medical students.
The building includes a telemedicine center that will allow students to watch medical procedures taking place at UCI Medical Center, as well as medical simulation and clinical skills centers.
Edge Development, a Temecula-based company, was the building’s contractor. Money for the project came primarily from the Proposition 1D bond measure that California voters passed in 2006.
Hospital Executive
St. Joseph Hospital-Orange is on the lookout for a new leader.
Earlier this month, longtime Chief Executive Larry Ainsworth said he would retire at the end of June. Ainsworth has run the Orange hospital, which came in at No. 3 on the Business Journal’s recent list of largest OC hospitals by income, for 16 years.
St. Joseph is looking internally and externally for Ainsworth’s replacement, a hospital spokeswoman said.
Ainsworth’s accomplishments during his time at St. Joseph-Orange include opening a $203 million patient care tower in 2007 and adding a free-standing Center for Cancer Prevention and Treatment.
Grubb & Ellis Buys in Ohio
A healthcare real estate investment fund of Santa Ana-based Grubb & Ellis Co. bought a medical building in suburban Cleveland.
Grubb & Ellis paid nearly $11 million for the Parkway Medical Center in Beachwood, Ohio, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
Parkway is made up of two buildings with a total of 88,000 square feet of space. The center is 10 minutes from downtown Cleveland and is 87% full with tenants, including the University Hospital of Cleveland.
UnitedHealth Appointment
UnitedHealth Group Inc., a Minnesota-based health insurer with a sizable operation in Cypress, named Sandra Bruce Nichols as its chief medical officer, west region. Her position is a new one.
Nichols’ responsibilities include ensuring access to and use of appropriate medical services for UnitedHealthcare members, as well as maintaining relationships with doctors who are under contract with the company and doctors’ groups throughout the region.
Before taking the position, Nichols was national medical director of clinical performance for AmeriChoice, a UnitedHealth unit that serves Medicaid recipients. She also has been director and commissioner of the Arkansas Department of Health, a Cabinet member for former Arkansas governors Jim Guy Tucker and Mike Huckabee and regional chief executive of Amerigroup Corp. in the District of Columbia and Virginia.
