Agfa sells CardioNow unit

Agfa Healthcare has sold its CardioNow unit, a secure provider of clinical trial services, to BioClinica.

CardioNow specialises in electronic transmission and analysis of medical images for clinical trials. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The firm says it aims to integrate the CardioNow technology within 45 days, offering immediate benefits to 200 existing trials.

BioClinica says the acquisition will enable it to offer streamlined electronic transport solutions to facilitate the blinding, sharing, tracking and archiving of medical images for multi-centre clinical trials as part of its suite of imaging services.

Imaging information will also be integrated with BioClinica Express electronic data capture to further simplify and enhance the clinical trial process for life science companies.

Since 1999, CardioNow has provided core labs, investigator sites, and medical device and pharmaceutical companies with an established and proven web-based system for the secure, regulatory compliant transmission and analysis of medical images that are integral components of clinical trials.

The solution is also extensively utilised by remote independent reviewers for online case review and quantitative analysis, clinical event adjudication, and data safety monitoring.

Over the past 10 years, CardioNow has successfully managed more than 8.8m DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine) images for clinical studies worldwide.

With the integration of CardioNow, BioClinica will be able to manage every step of the process that begins once a medical image is acquired at a clinical site through the delivery of evaluated results to the sponsor.

It says this end-to-end control will ensure that the process is as efficient and expedient as possible.

"CardioNow fits perfectly into BioClinica`s strategy of adding components that are both complimentary to our current products and services and that help to create a more efficient clinical trial process.

"We will continue to build on the superior technology and high level of customer service offered by Agfa Healthcare`s CardioNow unit," said Mark Weinstein, president and CEO of BioClinica.

"A leading solution like CardioNow is well suited to support the ongoing expansion of BioClinica’s extensive global clinical trial services portfolio," said Eric Maurincomme, chief strategy and marketing officer of Agfa HealthCare.