Philips and bioMerieux in partnership

Royal Philips Electronics and bioMerieux have signed an agreement to jointly develop fully automated handheld diagnostic testing solutions for hospital use that can be deployed at the point-of-care - i.e. close to the patient.

OEMThe collaboration aims to improve diagnosis and management of disease in critical care settings within hospitals (for example, Emergency Departments, Coronary Units and Intensive Care Units (ICUs)). This new alliance unites Philips' existing strengths in medical technology, patient monitoring and healthcare IT with bioMerieux's expertise in the development of biological assays and its extensive knowledge of cardiovascular and infectious disease markers, a statement reads.

A product development program is underway and the first results are expected in 2010. As part of the agreement, bioMerieux will have access to Philips' proprietary Magnotech technology for hospital-based point-of-care testing applications. Commercial solutions resulting from the partnership will be co-branded by Philips and bioMerieux, with bioMerieux being the exclusive distributor worldwide. The two companies intend to have products on the market by 2013.