Posts from — November 2008

Red ribbons on Olympic Stadium to inspire the response to AIDS in China and beyond

Chinese AIDS authorities, with the support of UNAIDS, today unveiled three giant red ribbons on the iconic National Stadium – colloquially known as ‘the Bird’s Nest’ – to mark World AIDS Day. The display illustrates China’s commitment to the AIDS response and in particular, to the fight against stigma and discrimination

More

While many business are slashing dividends BD continues to increase their dividend for the 36th continuous year. They also announced a stock repurchase program.

“This marks the 36th consecutive year of BD dividend increases. We continue to generate strong cash flow, allowing us to return significant dollars to our shareholders while continuing to make investments for the future,” said Edward J. Ludwig, BD Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. “Our strategy of increasing sustainable revenue growth through innovation, complemented by driving operating effectiveness and productivity, is working, and our shareholders continue to benefit.”

Complete story:

BD Board Declares Dividend Increase and Authorizes Additional Share Repurchases

November 25, 2008

With the uncertainties of the new onslaught of Medicare cuts on respiratory equipment and the growing opacity and dynamism in the customer supply channel, Donald Spence, CEO at Philips Home Healthcare Systems has issued a statement putting paid to “rumors” that they – in effect – were “going direct” to consumers.

Rumors had been fueled by Philips-Respironics programs of drop-shipping supplies directly to consumers.

The company response is:

Supply Direct is a drop-ship service designed to help providers grow and manage their business. It enables
providers to order and directly ship OSA replacement supplies to their patients’ homes through a convenient
Web portal. This program was developed for and with the input of our customers to help them focus on patient
care, while reducing costs and inventory investments. This creates opportunity for homecare providers and
improves patient compliance.
o EncoreAnywhere is another example of how we are working together to meet market needs. The system
connects all the various care givers with access to a common view of patient compliance data and information
related to their patients’ sleep therapy. And it enables our customers to proactively gather, present and share this
information efficiently through a secure Web portal. This system is intended to provide a lower cost, more timely
and accurate methodology for monitoring patient acceptance to their therapy over manually intensive legacy
alternatives. It also provides a lower cost when changing prescriptions in the field.

The company has embarked on an advertizing campaign to make their perspective clear, in addition to this download on their website.

By the way - I called this one in July.

A Sibaya delegation lead by Bruno Cocheteux attended the Emballage 2008 – World Packaging Exhibition in Paris, France 17 – 21 November 2008.

Robotics and Class 4 Clean rooms:

As far as equipment is concerned, there was an increasing representation of robotics solutions to perform complex and numerous tasks. We also interestingly noted the introduction on the market of clean room class 4 compatible robot systems.

Robotic cost reduction and increased efficiency in lifesciences:

Is the replacement of rigid cams and actuators by a simple tooling on a robot arm and proper software going to be the trend in the next decade?

Would we see robot integrators becoming well recognized machine manufacturer?

There is certainly a potential cost reduction and operational effectiveness impact for the lifescience industry.”

Email Bruno Cocheteux or call him at +33 4 76918573 for more information.

Hans Bergh, legendary CEO at Permobil has announced his intention to step down for personal reasons as soon as a successor is found. The process is being led by Tom Erixon, Chairman of the Board at Permobil and is expected to take several months.

Under Hans Bergh’s leadership the company has become the third largest producer of powered wheelchairs worldwide while he tripled their sales to approximately 120 million Euro.

Hans Bergh will continue as a member of the board and will contribute to several of the companies projects.

More Here (in Swedish)

Despite National Guidelines, Private Insurers, Emergency Rooms, Federal & State Agencies Largely Fail to Conduct Routine HIV Tests, Increasing HIV Risk

National Summit to Gauge Advances and Barriers to Routine HIV Testing and Prevention

Nearly 60,000 Americans were infected with HIV last year, and some 250,000 people nationwide are unaware of their infection. While initial successes show the potentially powerful impact of routine testing, two years after the US government’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s recommendation of routine HIV testing for Americans aged 13 to 64, major barriers stand in the way of making HIV testing the nationwide norm. [Read more →]

Sunrise announced that they have divested their US and South America Guardian business. (by the way the Guardian brand was never strong in their European business).

Sunrise CEO Michael N. Cannizzaro said:

For Sunrise Medical this is an important step in our strategy of being the industry’s leading Mobility and Seating Company. We will work closely with Medline to insure a smooth and seamless transition for all of our valued customers

Medline DME Division President said:

The acquisition of the Guardian line marks a significant step forward in the growth and value-added development of our Durable Medical Equipment division,” said Dave Jacobs, president, Medline Durable Medical Equipment division. “Guardian has a long-standing reputation for excellence and innovation in the healthcare industry and we are very pleased to have the opportunity to build on that tradition. In addition to bolstering our competitive position in the marketplace, the acquisition of this highly respected brand expands the range of products, services and value we can offer our customers

My take on this is that this move represents the next stage in industry (re) focus. Sunrise, a former pure play manufacturer, has chosen to exit a lower value added business that is increasingly dominated by people that have been smart in terms of how they source product from Asia. Medline has considerable expertise in this area.

Of interest perhaps is that this was conducted under Michael N. Cannizzaro’s watch. He was hired in 2007 by Vestarcapital partners – private equity shareholder of Sunrise. At about the same time Sunrise had been split into two parts – namely their respiratory business and wheelchair and other businesses.

Vestarcapital had taken Sunrise private in 2000 and speculation is that they may be looking for an exit.

Last week I wrote about Handicare, a relatively highly differentiated European based rehab company that is rapidly reaching the revenues of Sunrise, that acquired Linido, a relatively low value patient aid business last week.

Interesting…