1. BioTelemetry launches offer to acquire LifeWatch
BioTelemetry and LifeWatch announced in an April 9 press release that the 2 companies have entered a transaction agreement that states BioTelemetry will launch a tender offer to acquire all shares of LifeWatch. The LifeWatch shareholders will receive either 10 Swiss francs in cash and 0.1457 shares of BioTelemetry stock per LifeWatch share or 8 Swiss francs in cash and 0.2175 shares of BioTelemetry stock per LifeWatch share. The deal is expected to be worth approximately 260 million Swiss francs.
2. FDA approves marketing of first whole slide imaging system for digital pathology
The FDA approved marketing for the Philips IntelliSite Pathology Solution (PIPS), according to an April 12 press release. PIPS is the first whole slide imaging system that allows for review and interpretation of digital surgical pathology slides that are prepared from biopsied tissue. The FDA has not permitted the marketing of a whole slide imaging system for these purposes before. PIPS uses hardware and software to scan and digitize conventional surgical pathology glass slides that have been prepared from biopsied tissue at 400x magnification resolutions. Pathologists can review and interpret those images.
3. Second Sight touts first Asian Argus II implantation
Second Sight Medical Products announced in an April 13 press release that it has implanted its Argus II implants into its first patients in Asia through an exclusive distribution partnership with Orient Europharma. The Argus II system provides electrical stimulation that can bypass the defunct retinal cells and stimulates remaining viable cells. The procedure induces visual perception in individuals with severe to profound retinitis pigmentosa.
