Irvine-based Edwards Lifesciences Corp. has received approval from China’s State Food and Drug Administration covering use of its Carpentier-Edwards Perimount mitral heart valve.
Perimount—a longtime Edwards product—is made of pericardial tissue harvested from cows and was introduced into clinical use in 1984. The valve also is treated with Carpentier-Edwards ThermaFix, which is an anti-calcification tissue treatment.
Approval of Perimount “provides an important therapeutic option for mitral valve replacement, particularly for patients with lifestyle considerations that may not be compatible with the lifelong blood-thinning medication required with mechanical heart valves,” said Shengshou Hu, president of Fu Wai Hospital and China National Heart Center.
Separately, Edwards said that its Edwards Lifesciences Fund is expected to grant almost $5 million to 250 nonprofit organizations worldwide in 2012. Edwards said that the fund has distributed about $25 million in grants to various nonprofits since it was established in 2004.
The fund supports advancements in knowledge and improvements in quality-of-life issues with a primary focus on cardiovascular disease and the communities that its employees live and work in.
Dialysis Center
DaVita Healthcare Partners Inc., a Denver-based company, is opening a new kidney dialysis center at Providence Medical Center in Fullerton.
DaVita signed a 10-year lease for about 10,000 square feet of space in Providence. Providence has 86,000 square feet of space and is across the street from St. Jude Medical Center. Other tenants at the building include the Heritage Medical Group and the Medical Center for Women.
Providence is owned by Irvine-based Accretive Realty Advisors. Garth Hogan and John Scruggs of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank’s Global Healthcare Services Group represented the landlord. DaVita was represented by Aaron Denike in the Newport Beach office of Stamford, Conn.-based USI Real Estate Services.
Practice Purchase
St. Joseph Heritage Healthcare, a unit of Orange-based hospital operator St. Joseph Health, has purchased on undisclosed terms substantially all of the assets of Mission Internal Medical Group Inc., a Mission Viejo-based owner and operator of a comprehensive, multispecialty medical practice.
The deal means Heritage effectively will have a long-term professional-services agreement with Mission Internal, through which doctors will provide primary and multispecialty medical services to Heritage’s patients. The deal also covers administration, education and research services on behalf of Heritage and for Heritage to provide a variety of administrative functions for Mission Internal.
Smile Frowns on Proposal
Castle Dental and Monarch Dental—dental-support businesses owned by Irvine-based Smile Brands Group Inc.—are part of an industry effort in Texas to fight against legislative proposals they say will impose more regulations and restrict dentists’ access to nonclinical support services.
More than 60 Texas dentists sent a letter to the Texas Dental Association taking issue with recent testimony from dentist Richard Black on behalf of the association before the Texas House of Representatives’ public health committee.
The dentists’ group criticized Black, on behalf of the association, for “unsubstantiated statements” about administrative-support providers such as Castle and Monarch. The dentists said Black called for legislation that would restrict dentists’ access to dental support services.
Smile, a privately held company with some $490 million in annual revenue, provides dental management and support services.
Bits and Pieces
Joe Kiani, chief executive of Irvine-based patient-monitor-maker Masimo Corp., appeared last week at the Forbes Health Summit in New York as part of a panel discussing Food and Drug Administration policy. … Irvine-based WalkStyles Inc. signed a deal with Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins HealthCare LLC to license multimedia health information developed by its iCount Wellness unit. Johns Hopkins plans to use the information on its Johns Hopkins Wellness Corner website, which also features online message boards, video blogs and video commentaries. … Children’s Hospital of Orange County in Orange said Chief Executive Kimberly Cripe and Chief Financial Officer Kerri Ruppert Schiller made a list recently published in Becker’s Hospital Review of 120 health-system women who are “leaders to know.”
