 |
| The MeVisLab development environment--courtesy of MeVisLab |
Mobile medical apps are all the rage, but software is growing in importance in traditional medical devices too, as evidenced by Varian Medical Systems' announcement that it will acquire Germany's MeVis Medical Solutions AG, a provider of software for cancer imaging, for an expected price of €30 million ($36.9 million), or €17.50 ($21.53) per share.
"We believe we can integrate MeVis technology to offer our customers smarter flat-panel detectors and imaging workstations for cancer screening," said Sunny Sanyal, president of Varian Imaging Components. "This would enable us to help equipment manufacturers get new life-saving diagnostic products to market faster."
MeVis technology includes software for analyzing image data related to screening for breast, lung, liver, prostate and colon cancer. Varian mentioned the MeVisLab software platform specifically. "Besides basic image processing and visualization modules, MeVisLab includes advanced medical imaging algorithms for segmentation, registration, and quantitative morphological and functional image analysis," says the product website.
The release says that MeVis software for breast cancer screening has been sold to about 10,000 clinics worldwide.
Oncology products accounted for about three-fourths of Varian's fiscal year Q4 revenues of $812 million, with imaging components responsible for most of the rest. Products include the various radiotherapy systems to deliver radiation, as well as proton therapy systems. On the imaging components side, the company's offerings include tubes and X-ray workstations.
 |
| Varian CEO Dow Wilson |
"Varian is excited to add cancer screening software to its portfolio of imaging components solutions for diagnostic imaging manufacturers," said Dow Wilson, CEO of Varian Medical Systems, in a statement. "Early detection and treatment of tumors can have a significant impact on outcomes for cancer treatment and we are looking forward to the prospect of adding advanced software for early cancer detection to our product portfolio."
The transaction is expected to close in April 2015.
Several other imaging companies are aiming to use software as a product differentiator, including 2014 Fierce 15 company CorTechs labs, maker of NeuroQuant, a computer program that automatically measures the volume of about 30 different substructures in the brain, including the hippocampus, to diagnose Alzheimer's, multiple sclerosis and traumatic brain injury/concussions.
Also, earlier this year Siemens signed an agreement with Tennessee's MRI Interventions to jointly develop software enabling catheter-based procedures to be performed using real-time MRI imaging as opposed to fluoroscopy.
- read the release
- more about MeVis
Special Report: FierceMedicalDevices' 2014 Fierce 15 - CorTechs Labs