New Asia Training Center St. Jude Medical also has reaffirmed its long-term commitment to the Asi

New Asia Training Center

St. Jude Medical also has reaffirmed its long-term commitment to the Asian market this year with the recent debut of its newest physician training center in Beijing, China.

The St. Jude Medical Advanced Technology Center Asia Pacific officially opened on March 22 in a ceremony attended by Sang Yi, the company’s vice president of Asia Pacific, doctors from the Asia Pacific Heart Rhythm Society (APHRS), Ministry of Health officials, and regional cardiologists.

“I am pleased to celebrate the inauguration of our St. Jude Medical Advanced Technology Center Asia Pacific,” Yi said at the facility’s inauguration ceremony. “St. Jude Medical values our relationship and business with China, and believes that our Advanced Technology Center is an important part of a long and prosperous relationship working with physicians throughout China and the entire Asia Pacific region to improve the health, welfare, and quality of life of the people there.”

The training center in China is the latest in a series of such facilities that St. Jude is rolling out across the globe. The company opened its first center in Brussels, Belgium, in 2008, and broke ground on a manufacturing facility and training center in Malaysia in early March. St. Jude is planning to open other training centers in Costa Rica, Japan and the United States.

The Centers educate and train doctors on St. Jude’s cardiology, cardiac surgery and arrhythmia management equipment. The facilities also train physicians to use St. Jude products through lectures, peer-to-peer education and hands-on experience using virtual reality technology, according to the company. The Center’s virtual reality experience allows physicians to simulate different procedures and develop clinical skills in a controlled environment. In this environment, physicians can bring to life previous training, directly experience how they would manage complications during procedures, and learn new advanced cardiac care techniques.

Using St. Jude Medical exclusive virtual reality simulators, physicians practice several different procedures in a human-size simulation. The technology mirrors an operating room environment, allowing doctors to use and familiarize themselves with both the St. Jude Medical products and best practices aligned with different techniques.

“To help treat patients using the latest advances in technology, ongoing learning and training is required,” said Prof. Shu Zhang, director of the Cardiac Arrhythmia Center and Clinical Electrophysiology Laboratory in Beijing Fu Wai Hospital. “With interactive sessions, a virtual reality experience, and curricula developed by Asia’s scientists specializing in arrhythmia management, I believe the training will provide physicians with a unique, hands-on and enjoyable learning experience they can’t find anywhere else.”

St. Jude bigwigs expect more than 2,000 physicians to visit the Center in Beijing each year from throughout Asia; they predict most doctors will come from hospitals in China.

The grand opening of the training center occurred during an Educational Summit that partnered St. Jude Medical with APHRS and local cardiologists to establish an educational curriculum. The summit was co-chaired by Zhang and included APHRS members from throughout Asia Pacific. The group of leading physicians will help the Advanced Technology Center staff design courses that provide realistic experiences for physicians treating cardiac-related illness.

“With all the new developments in the medical industry it is important that corporations such as St. Jude Medical partner with societies, institutions and physicians to help drive continuous learning. APHRS is pleased to partner with St. Jude Medical to help provide a training experience that will be beneficial to clinicians throughout Asia,” said Masayasu Hiraoka, presidentof APHRS.

St. Jude Medical first entered the Chinese market in 1996. Since then, the company’s Chinese operation has grown from fewer than 10 employees to more than 250. In addition to its new Advanced Technology Center, St. Jude has sales offices in Beijing, Guangzhou and both a sales office and distribution center in Shanghai.

Terumo Expands With Buyout; Cardio Unit Cited by FDA for GMP ViolationApparently, second-best is just not good enough for Terumo Corp.

In an attempt to become the global leader in blood transfusion equipment, Japan’s largest medical device manufacturer recently purchased Gambro AB’s CaridianBCT unit for $2.63 billion, including debt. The purchase price is about 15 times CaridianBCT’s 2010 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, the companies said in a March 7 statement to the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Terumo plans to fund the acquisition with cash and bank loans.

Terumo’s purchase of CaridianBCT from Gambro will catapult the company to the top of the global blood transfusion market (it was the fifth-largest player before the deal), analysts said. Gambro is jointly controlled by Swedish industrial holder Investor AB and private equity funds manager EQT IV.

“Terumo has been trying to boost its blood transfusion-related operations and the deal is expected to help it,” Satoru Takaoki, chief analyst at Tokyo securities firm SMBC Friend Research Center, told Reuters.

Though Terumo’s chief impetus behind the purchase was its desire to become the world’s largest manufacturer of blood transfusion equipment, analysts claim the deal also highlights an aggressive push by Japanese companies to capitalize on a strong yen and purchase overseas assets to expand outside their maturing home base. Up nearly 10 percent against the dollar in the last year, the strong yen is bolstering the purchasing power of Japanese companies searching for U.S. and European targets, according to Bloomberg News. It is not clear yet how the recent devastating earthquake and resulting tsunami will impact these business plans. (For more information on the impact of the disaster on medical device markets, turn to Financial News onpage 44.)

And Japanese companies clearly are taking advantage of the yen’s improved fortunes: Three companies (including Terumo) have acquired foreign firms since late February. Kyowa Hakko Kirin Co., a unit of Japanese beverage maker Kirin Holdings Co., inked a deal on Feb. 21 to purchase Scottish biotech firm ProStrakan Group Plc for 292 million pounds ($475 million).
ProStrakan Chairman Peter Allen said the sale was in the best interests of the company and its shareholders. “The fit between ProStrakan and KHK is unmistakable in terms of products, geography and infrastructure,”he noted.

One week later, on Feb. 28, drug maker Daiichi Sankyo Co. Limited purchased Berkeley, Calif.-based pharmaceutical firm Plexxikon Inc. for as much as $935 million. The deal, according to Daiichi executives, will “accelerate” the company’s entry into the oncology market.

Terumo executives claim the deal for CaridianBCT will help the company generate 70 billion yen ($850 million) in annual sales from its blood transfusion operations, though the company has its sights set on a much higher number: 1 trillion yen within 10 years. Terumo reported group revenue of 316 billion yen in the fiscal year ending March 2010. The firm reported 66.7 billion yen in cash and deposits as of Dec. 31.

Terumo’s transfusion division sells mostly low-tech products such as blood bags, blood filters and aphaeresis systems that are used to separate blood components. Lakewood, Colo.-based CaridianBCT manufactures machines that collect blood components and filter pathogens; these machines are used by both blood banks and hospitals.

CaridianBCT’s annual sales have expanded an average of 12 percent since 2000, reaching $524 million last year.

Terumo expects to complete the acquisition by early May.