Welch Allyn Adopts Protocol; Retractable Technologies Attracts Abbott Investment
Welch Allyn plans to combine its patient monitoring business with Protocol, forming the new Welch Allyn Protocol Inc. as a wholly owned subsidiary. The new unit will retain Protocol's existing headquarters in Beaverton, OR, and will represent Welch Allyn's patient monitoring, multiparameter electronic vital signs, and networked clinical data communications market segments.
"In recent years, we have been able to serve our front-line clinical customers more completely by successfully expanding into new product areas such as patient monitoring," said Peter Soderberg, Welch Allyn's president and CEO, in a prepared statement. "This transaction furthers Welch Allyn's interest in advancing its worldwide patient monitoring market presence and obtaining core competencies and technologies to enhance the quality and accessibility of patient data in highly cost effective ways."
Robert Adrion, Protocol's president and CEO, will hold the same titles at the newly minted Welch Allyn Protocol Inc. Expressing support for the merger, Adrion said, "The Protocol Systems team is excited about joining Welch Allyn. Our companies have complementary products and markets, a reputation for high quality, and a history of successful collaboration. Together we will be able to provide more solutions to more customers globally, share technology and capabilities, and further accelerate growth."
Welch Allyn (Skaneateles Falls, NY) manufactures and markets medical and dental diagnostic equipment and miniature precision lamps.
Protocol (Beaverton, OR) designs, manufactures, and markets computer and software technologies that provide vital patient data and connect clinicians with mobile patients via workstations, wireless devices, and the Internet.
Needle-Safety Device Maker Works with Abbott
Retractable Technologies Inc. signed a five-year agreement with Abbott Laboratories Inc. (Abbott Park, IL) in which Abbott will market and distribute RTI's VanishPoint brand automated retraction syringes and blood collection devices to its U.S. acute care hospital customers.
Abbott also invested in the company and will co-develop safety products.
Under the terms of the agreement, Abbott will acquire an equity stake in privately held RTI (Little Elm, TX) and establish a credit line that will help RTI expand its manufacturing operations and production capacity. The agreement also calls for the formation of a new product team, made up of key personnel from both companies, that will develop new safety products that incorporate RTI's patented, proprietary technology.
Thomas Shaw, RTI's founder, president, and CEO, described the agreement as a "significant step towards the establishment of automated retraction technology as the global standard for safe needle devices.
"We're greatly encouraged that our agreement with Abbott will make our breakthrough technology available to many more healthcare workers and protect them from needlestick injuries," he added.
Shaw has been a prominent and vocal critic of the larger manufacturers and larger group purchasing organizations, which he accused of anti-competitive practices by locking healthcare providers into long-term contracts that effectively block his company and others like it from generating business. In media campaigns, he has publicly attacked the likes of manufacturer BD (Franklin Lakes, NJ) and GPOs Premier Inc. (San Diego) and Novation (Irving, TX). RTI subsequently landed a contract with Premier.
Because Abbott is one of the top two manufacturers of intravenous products, RTI should gain valuable exposure to healthcare facilities with Abbott contracts, particularly if Abbott somehow "bundles" RTI products in with its own.
Loreen Mershimer, a vice president of Abbott's Hospital Products Division, said, "The addition of [RTI's] VanishPoint technology to Abbott's needle safety portfolio will offer our customers a comprehensive solution to their needle safety requirements."
Source: Hospital Network.com, sister website to Medical Design Online.