Orbotech offers GE nuclear medicine detector-making ability

General Electric Co.’s (NYSE:GE) healthcare unit followed up the announcement last week of its half-billion-dollar acquisition of cancer diagnostic company Clarient Inc. (NASDAQ:CLRT) with a new deal to acquire Orbotech Ltd. (NASDAQ:ORBK) subsidiary Orbotech Medical Solutions Ltd.

The $9 million cash deal, with up to $5 million in performance-based add-ons, will expand GE Healthcare’s nuclear medicine division with Orbotech’s cadmium zinc telluride detector manufacturing operations.

GE employs Yavne, Israel-based Orbotech’s CZT-based devices in its Alcyone nuclear medicine technology.

“We believe the future of nuclear medicine lies in the further development of CZT used in our Alcyone technology,” GE Healthcare nuclear medicine manager Nathan Hermony said in prepared remarks.

Alcyone technology is a cardiology imaging platform that combines CZT detectors, focused pin-hole collimation and 3D reconstruction, according to GE, and is available in the company’s Spect and Spect/CT configurations. GE said the devices allow views of cardiac anatomy and functionality with a radiation dosage of up to a four times less than other comparable imaging systems, according to the company.

The companies expect the transaction to close by the first quarter of 2011.

GE Healthcare announced the acquisition of Clarient in a cash deal worth about $587 million.