December 4, 2007 - A new, free white paper, addressing the challenges of new FDA regulations awaiting combination products manufacturers, is now available for download from Microtest, a testing services and contract manufacturing for the medical device, pharmaceutical, biotechnology industries.

While combination products are experiencing dramatic growth, the convergence of drug/biologics and devices brings a host of regulatory challenges. Manufacturers must ensure their products meet cGMP practices as well as pass muster with the FDA, ISO and USP.

December 5, 2007 - Bristol-Myers Squibb will divest its medical imaging division as part of an initiative to maximize the value of its healthcare group.

As part of the restructuring, Bristol-Myers Squibb will cut personnel by 10 percent, possibly resulting in pretax cost savings of $1.5 billion by 2012. It will focus its activities on such key growth products as specialty and biologic medicines and cardiovascular and metabolic drugs.

The downsizing of its labor force started in November and will continue for three years, the company announced.

December 5, 2007 - The United Kingdom's Department of Health said today it will begin a new stroke strategy in which anyone in a higher-risk group who suffers a minor stroke will receive an MRI scan within 24 hours to accelerate the emergency response.

The department hopes the new strategy will help prevent up the 6,800 deaths and cases of disability, which occur due to strokes in the U.K. annually. A further 1,600 strokes may also be averted through preventative work, the department said.

December 4, 2007 - STERIS Corp. announced the launch of its newest surgical platform, the Surgimax General Surgical Table, which complements its industry standard Amsco 3085 SP and Cmax General Surgical Tables, specialty surgical tables and table accessory lines.

December 4, 2007 - The University of Colorado Hospital has gone live this week with GE Healthcare's Centricity Perioperative System to streamline surgical services, integrating anesthesia, nursing, scheduling, surgery management and preprocedures services into one complete patient record.