March 19, 2008 - I-Flow Corp. recently entered into a binding letter of intent to acquire AcryMed Inc., a privately held Oregon-based developer of infection control and wound healing products, for $25 million in cash.
The company said it hopes to take advantage of the long-term growth opportunity for its ON-Q SilverSoaker Catheters potentially large infection control market.
"With the acquisition of AcryMed, which closed on Feb. 15, 2008, I-Flow now owns the proprietary nanoparticle treatment technology that has already proven itself in our ON-Q PainBuster with ON-Q SilverSoaker Antimicrobial Catheter, the only pain relief pump to document an infection reduction capability," said Donald M. Earhart, I-Flow's chairman and CEO. "This innovative technology will also be featured in a new line of silver transparent wound-site dressings AcryMed will manufacture for I-Flow, which we plan to bring to market this year. We see additional new product opportunities on the horizon."
AcryMed also is active in researching and developing new wound care technologies and has licensed a portion of these technologies for a range of infection control and wound care products.
Under the acquisition Bruce Gibbins, AcryMed's founder, chief technology officer and chairman, and Jack McMaken, AcryMed's CEO and president, will join I-Flow under new, full-time employment agreements.
A major research study reported at last year's 47th Annual Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC) concluded that I-Flow's ON-Q Painbuster and ON-Q SilverSoaker catheter, delivering a local anesthetic to treat the pain, is responsible for reducing surgical site infection rates following colorectal surgeries by more than 50 percent and shortening hospital stays by more than two days when compared with traditional narcotic pain care.
"These findings are especially significant in view of the recent announcement by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) that, for discharges occurring on or after Oct. 1, 2008, hospitals will not receive additional payment for patients in whom certain conditions were not present on admission, such as hospital-acquired infections," Earhart said
To help expand the addressable market, I-Flow said it initiated a new study to assess the impact of using ON-Q on the incidence of pneumonia and infections in patients undergoing heart surgery. The company has also developed a new professional promotional campaign that combines the ON-Q pain relief message with information on the infection study results and additional data establishing the relevancy of infections in the hospital setting.
I-Flow announced March 17 it saw a 32 percent increase in its regional anesthesia business in 2007, to a record $89.6 million compared to $67.9 million for 2006. Regional anesthesia sales increased 29 percent for the fourth quarter of 2007. Those sales included the ON-Q PainBuster Post-Operative Pain Relief System, and the ON-Q SilverSoaker Catheter.
For more information: www.IFLO.com
July 25, 2024 
