Hospitals

Night Read (Minnesota): American Medical Systems sells product line for $20 million

This is the second major divestiture for AMS in the past six months. The Minnetonka-based company sold its Ovion sterilization technology to Mountain View, Calif.-based Conceptus Inc. for $23.6 million last October.

Here are some news/notes from a day in MedCity, Minnesota:

American Medical Systems Inc. on Tuesday announced that it has sold its Her Option Global Endometrial Ablation product line to a Cooper Surgical for $20.5 million, according to the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal. Cooper Surgical is a subsidiary of Pleasanton, Calif.-based Coopers Companies Inc., which develops, manufactures and markets health care products for the vision care and women’s health markets.

SurModics Inc., a pharmaceutical company based in Eden Prairie, is planning to terminate a licensing agreement with Ambrilia Biopharma Inc. in Canada. Ambrilia said it disagrees with SurModics contention that it’s not  adequately developing Octreotide, a cancer drug. Ambrilia said it’s continuing to negotiate with SurModics but exploring legal options.

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Mayo Clinic recently launched an initiative to reduce avoidable hospital readmissions, starting with three high-risk conditions: heart failure, heart attack and pneumonia, according to the Jacksonville Business Journal. The number of patients discharged and readmitted to a hospital within 30 days has become a red flag in health care, prompting a nationwide focus on eliminating unnecessary hospital readmissions.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s budget calls for the University of Minnesota to receive $100 million in bonding, half that amount devoted to a new physics and nanotechnology facility, according to Finance & Commerce in Minneapolis.

3M Cos of Maplewood has donated some of its royalty-bearing patents to the University of Minnesota’s law school and Office for Technology Commercialization, according to the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal. The law school has established a 3M Fund for Law, Science and Technology to support various programs and initiatives in teaching and research. The OTC part of the University’s efforts to move research into the marketplace.