Bard to acquire Venetec International

Medical technology company Bard is to purchase Venetec International for $166 million (?95 million).

The deal will give bard Venetec’s core business of StatLock catheter securement devices ? used to reduce complications in peripherally inserted central catheters, central venous catheters and peripherally intravenous catheters. Its devices are used in 3,000 hospitals across the US.

Bard said that the line will be adopted by its medical division, which will take responsibility for marketing. It added that it had boosted its revenue forecasts for the full-year 2006 from ten to 11 per cent.

Bard CEO Timothy M Ring said: “The StatLock catheter securement devices and associated technology fit very well strategically with several of our market leading product lines. StatLock devices have strong brand recognition”.

He added that the acquisition will bestow Bard with “an extensive intellectual property portfolio that includes 245 patents and patent applications,” and that the StatLock line had been backed up by “multiple clinical and economic outcomes studies”.

Venetec had announced seven new patents for its tubing and catheter securement technologies at the end of February. The US patent authorities granted five, while two were established in Australia.

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