Beckman Execs Weigh In on Clinical Errors Debate
Nexell Updates Its Plans to Wind Down; Carlsbad Catheter Maker Raises $20M
HEALTHCARE
by Vita Reed
Beckman Coulter Inc., the Fullerton-based biomedical testing company, has injected itself into a debate on boosting patient safety.
The issue first was broached some two years ago when the federal Institute of Medicine issued a report showing as many as 98,000 deaths per year were attributed to medical errors. In the report, diagnostic errors,including failure to employ indicated tests and the use of outmoded tests,were listed as among the more critical errors.
Beckman Chief Executive John Wareham and Dr. Berend Houwen, the company’s medical director, discussed the issues at the annual meeting of the American Association of Clinical Chemists in late July in Orlando, Fla. Joanne Born, executive director of the Joint Commission on Healthcare Organizations’ laboratory program, also spoke at the conference.
“More collaboration between laboratorians and physicians would help simplify and standardized processes, ensure delivery of more accurate and timely information and result in the proper testing protocol for improved patient care,” Wareham said.
Preventable medical errors that result in injury, Wareham said, are estimated to cost $17 billion to $29 billion, putting “an enormous burden on our healthcare system.”
Houwen said that in some cases lab technicians might be better informed than physicians about test protocols to aid in the management and treatment of patients.
“The types of lab tests physicians learned about years ago in medical school may not necessarily be the most effective tests to help diagnose and treat patients today,” he said.
Houwen also said that automating the pre-analytical process in laboratory testing eliminates the needs for technologists to manually prepare patients’ test samples, reducing the likelihood of human errors.
Separately, Beckman said it showcased the first in a new series of combined chemistry-immunoassay systems at the meeting. The system, which still is being developed, is part of Beckman’s Synchron line and is designed to help medical labs decrease pre-analytical process steps and improve turnaround time, among other things.
Nexell Gives Status Update
Irvine-based biotechnology company Nexell Therapeutics Inc. recently gave an update on its ongoing wind down of operations.
Nexell said in a release that it is “continuing to consider alternatives available to it in effecting the wind-down, which may involve liquidation or reorganization under the federal bankruptcy code, dissolution under Delaware law or other process or transaction.”
As part of the process, the company said it recorded a $33.6 million charge related to asset impairment.
Nexell also said that since it cut staff from 23 to three full-time workers, its management has focused on paying its creditor obligations, reducing and eliminating future commitments, selling certain fixed assets and exploring liquidating other assets.
Nexell was working on treatments to modify or enhance human immune function and blood cell formation utilizing adult blood-forming stem cells and other specially prepared cell populations.
The company announced its decision to end operations when it reported first-quarter results. It cited a number of factors in reaching its decision, including its financial condition, the biotechnology industry, along with “lengthy and unsuccessful efforts” to either raise capital or form a business combination with other companies.
IntraLuminal Bags Money
IntraLuminal Therapeutics Inc., a medical device maker located south of the county line in Carlsbad, received $20 million in the first closing in the fourth round of its latest funding.
New investors are CDP Capital Technologies, a Canadian venture firm, and Hunt Ventures LP, with offices in Dallas and Austin, Texas, said Allan Hedrick, the company’s chief executive. Returning investors are MPM Capital LLC, which has offices in San Francisco, Boston and Munich and Dr. Geoffrey Hartzler, an interventional cardiologist who is IntraLuminal’s chairman and founder.
IntraLuminal is going to use its new money for continued clinical development and launch of its products, along with working capital, Hedrick said.
IntraLuminal’s developing a family of products specifically for the crossing and recanalization of total occlusions, which happen when there’s no flow of blood through arteries due to blockages. Back in April, IntraLuminal received clearance from the Food and Drug Association to market the Safe-Steer Guide Wire system, its first total occlusion correction product.
Safe-Steer is designed to give the cardiologist real-time feedback as to the proximity of the crossing wire to the arterial wall, thus facilitating safe and successful passage through the total occlusion and placement of therapeutic catheters for recanalization in native coronary arteries.
Bits and Pieces:
UCI Medical Center, Orange, received a designation from the Muscular Dystrophy Association for its services for people with amytrophic lateral sclerosis, a fatal muscle-wasting disease also known as “Lou Gehrig’s disease.” According to hospital officials, UCI Medical Center is only the fourth in California to receive the designation.
