More than 40 medical device startups from the U.S. and six other countries are expected in Irvine for an upcoming investment conference.
The show, Investment in Innovation West: a Preview of Early Stage Medical Technology Companies, runs Feb. 23 and 24 at the Hyatt Regency Irvine.
Windhover Information Inc.’s Medtech Insight puts on the conference.
The event seeks to expose young medical technology companies to bigger device makers and investors.
Companies taking part are going after just about every major ailment: heart and peripheral vascular diseases, orthopedic and spine diseases, neurology and strokes, diabetes and wound management.
Others are focused on imaging, diagnostics, biomaterials, tissue engineering, drug delivery, oncology and eye care.
So far, the lineup includes just one Orange County entry: Irvine’s Tekia Inc., which is developing an intraocular replacement lens for the eye.
Sponsors of the show, known as In3 West, include the Washington, D.C.-based Advanced Medical Technology Association, a medical device trade group, and Costa Mesa law firm Rutan & Tucker LLP.
In3 West is attracting some big names from the OC device world.
Stuart Foster, corporate vice president of technology and discovery for Edwards Lifesciences Corp., the Irvine heart valve maker, is set to be part of a discussion called “the big company perspective on deal-making” on Feb. 24.
The panel plans to look at medical device deal making from various angles, including what big companies’ appetite could be in coming years and what large companies use in identifying and targeting small companies.
Michael Henson, a longtime OC medical device figure, is one of the keynote speakers. Henson plans to discuss “from invention to commercialization and beyond.”
Henson is general partner of MedFocus Fund in Irvine and is the founder, chief executive, chairman and board member of some 15 healthcare startups.
Dr. Scott Wolf, a partner at Prospect Venture Partners LLC of Chicago is giving the “state of medtech investing 2006” presentation. Wolf has founded four healthcare companies.
Robert Fish, who heads Rutan & Tucker’s intellectual property and technology group, is presenting “weaving gold from straw.”
PacifiCare Ends Keane Contract
PacifiCare Health Systems, a Cypress-based unit of Minnesota’s UnitedHealth Group Inc., has ended work outsourced to Keane Inc.
The contract with Boston-based Keane had $226 million left on it. The cancellation came about following UnitedHealth’s buy of PacifiCare in December.
Keane signed the PacifiCare deal, which was valued at $500 million during 10 years, in 2002. PacifiCare has been Keane’s second-largest customer, following the federal government. The health insurer was able to negotiate lower rates with Keane, which the consultant said cost it $3 million in revenue in the third quarter.
Keane said it reached a deal with UnitedHealth to provide some services through June 2007 and is going to receive $30 million in compensation.
ICU Customer Downsizing
Hospira Inc., a suburban Chicago hospital products maker that is the dominant customer of San Clemente-based ICU Medical Inc., said earlier this month that it will close two plants in Ohio and Canada, phase out another in Illinois and cut about 1,100 jobs.
Sales to Hospira accounted for about two-thirds of ICU’s $157.5 million in revenue in 2005.
Hospira said it expects the plant shutdowns to cost $95 million to $110 million during the next four years. The company said it would shift manufacturing from the closed plants to U.S. factories, and outsource some product components.
Last year, ICU paid $35 million to Hospira for a Utah plant. ICU since has shifted some production from San Clemente to Utah.
Abbott Laboratories Inc. spun off Hospira in 2004.
UCI Makes Memory Discovery
University of California, Irvine researchers said they’ve found that a single brief memory actually is processed in three separate parts of the brain. Until now, scientists suspected that was the case but couldn’t prove it.
Researchers Emily Malin and James McGaugh used rats and found that three parts of the brain processed memory in different ways: the hippocampus, a part of the cerebral cortex and the amygdala.
UC Irvine said the findings could have implications for the treatment of memory disorders caused by disease or injury.
The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published the results.
Bits and Pieces:
Norfolk, Va.-based Instant Technologies Inc. bought Accu-Stat Diagnostics Inc., Lake Forest, for an undisclosed price. Accu-Stat sells diagnostic tests to detect drug and alcohol use, cholesterol and other uses Patient Care Technology Systems, Mission Viejo, and its parent company, Consulier Engineering Inc., bought patient tracking software from nuMedica Inc., Golden, Colo. … Pacific Coast Imaging and Heart Institute opened in Newport Beach. The facility is a joint project of Pacific Coast Imaging, Irvine, and Pacific Coast Cardiology, a Newport Beach practice.
