Merit Medical Buys Assets of Electro- Catheter Corp.

Merit Medical Systems Inc. (South Jordan, UT) has purchased from bankruptcy substantially all of the inventory, equipment, and intangible property such as patents, regulatory approvals, and trademarks from Electro-Catheter Corp. (Rahway, NJ) for less than $1 million.

The Electro-Catheter assets include drainage catheters, embolectomy catheters, temporary cardiac pacing devices, thermodilution and pressure monitoring products, electrophysiology catheters, and steerable catheters.

"This acquisition presents us with an opportunity to broaden our technology focus in cardiology and radiology," said Fred P. Lampropoulos, Merit chairman and CEO. "There are two products that fit very well into some of our research projects and existing product lines and have the potential to provide near-term revenue opportunities."

"By immediately integrating one of the new technologies into a current research project, Merit expects to have a new product available to market sometime in the fourth quarter of this year," Lampropoulos added.

Merit Medical manufactures disposable medical products used in interventional and diagnostic procedures, particularly in cardiology and radiology.

Edited by Ursula Jones