Independent imaging vendors are becoming an endangered species. Nuclear medicine firm SMV became the latest to fall under the wing of a multimodality conglomerate when it was purchased by GE Medical Systems in an deal announced today.
GE said it bought SMV for an undisclosed amount. SMV was privately held and did not release financial numbers.
The acquisition will accelerate GE's development of advanced software applications and connectivity solutions, according to Beth Klein, vice president and general manager of global functional imaging at the Waukesha, WI, vendor. GE says the deal gives it the largest global market share in the nuclear medicine and PET market, with the company claiming the top spot from the nuclear medicine group of Siemens Medical Systems.
SMV has a long and distinguished pedigree in the nuclear medicine industry. Its roots derive from the 1995 merger of French gamma camera firm Sopha Medical with its U.S. counterpart, Summit Nuclear. The firm encountered several years of rough sailing after the merger, but righted itself and had introduced several intriguing new products in recent years.
One of these was Positrace, a hybrid PET/CT scanner that received FDA clearance in August. Positrace melds a fully diagnostic CT assembly with PET detectors, with the goal of providing both anatomic and functional imaging data in a single system. SMV also offers a full line of variable-angle and fixed-detector gamma cameras, and its workstation technology is also well regarded.
For its part, GE has made major investments in nuclear medicine after falling behind in the modality in the mid-1990s. The company took a big step back to respectability in 1998, when it acquired the nuclear medicine business of Israeli vendor Elscint.
The Elscint deal enabled GE to round out its product line, so there is some duplication in products between SMV and GE. Both offer variable-angle dual-head systems, for example, with GE selling its Millennium VG product and SMV marketing the DST and DST-XL line. GE did not specify whether it would continue both product lines, or keep the SMV brand. Also in question is whether GE will maintain SMV's facilities in Twinsburg, OH, and Buc, France.
Positrace will be a unique addition to GE's product mix, however. The vendor already sells dedicated PET cameras, as well as Hawkeye, an upgrade module that adds an x-ray assembly to the Millennium VG gamma camera. Positrace will fit nicely between the two offerings, giving GE customers an additional choice for hybrid functional and anatomical imaging.
This deal, and the pending acquisition of ADAC Laboratories by Philips Medical Systems, effectively spells the end for independent nuclear medicine vendors. With SMV and ADAC out of the picture, there are no longer any independent gamma camera firms with significant market share.
By Brian CaseyAuntMinnie.com staff writer
November 17, 2000
Related Reading
Philips to re-enter nuclear medicine market with bid to buy ADAC, November 13, 2000
SMV wins FDA clearance for Positrace hybrid PET/CT camera, September 4, 2000
Nuclear medicine firm SMV sees bright future for hybrid PET/CT scanning, June 12, 2000
GE takes on hybrid nuclear imaging with Hawkeye gamma camera add-on, June 7, 2000
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