Synthes

Synthes Inc., the world's No. 3 manufacturer of spinal-implant devices, said yesterday that it would buy a San Diego maker of spinal devices for $30 million, plus up to $45 million if certain development, regulatory and marketing milestones were reached. In addition, the private California firm, N Spine Inc., will receive an undisclosed share of future sales of its products. Synthes, with worldwide headquarters in West Chester, employs about 1,400 in Chester County, including in Brandywine, Paoli and West Chester.

The existence of talks aimed at a possible merger of Johnson & Johnson and Synthes was confirmed Monday by Synthes, which has major operations in Chester County. Synthes is a global manufacturer of medical devices with headquarters in Switzerland and West Chester and four facilities in West Chester and one in Paoli. The company is one of the dominant players in the field of repairing bones, especially in the spine and those broken by trauma. That means plates and screws, compounds, and medical power tools.

Attorneys for four local executives guilty in a case involving an illegal clinical trial of a bone cement in the spines of elderly patients - three of whom died - argued for leniency in federal court in Philadelphia on Monday. The former executives of the medical-device maker Synthes Inc. in West Chester pleaded guilty in 2009 but say they were not intimately involved in testing the bone cement, according to their lawyers. "The evidence of intent is insufficient," said Adam S. Hoffinger, lead attorney for Thomas B. Higgins, one of the four former executives.

Health-care giant Johnson & Johnson and medical-device maker Synthes Inc. - both of which have large operations in the Philadelphia area - agreed to a $21.3 billion merger deal announced Wednesday. Johnson & Johnson Inc. hopes to fill a hole in its 250-company portfolio by adding a stronger device component and dominating that market. Synthes is a leader in the manufacture of devices that help treat bones with compounds, screws, nails, plates, and power tools. The deal is J&J's largest acquisition ever.

A division of Synthes Inc., the world's largest maker of bone-related medical devices, has agreed to plead guilty to trying to circumvent the FDA and agreed to pay the maximum $22.5 million fine, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Philadelphia has announced. Norian Corp., a division of West Chester-based Synthes Inc., will plead to one felony count of conspiracy to impair and impede the lawful functions of the FDA, and 110 misdemeanor counts of shipping adulterated and misbranded Norian XR across state lines.

Without saying they approve or disapprove of such deals, the federal officials supervising the Synthes Inc. divestiture of its Norian subsidiary's assets have indicated - sort of - that Tuesday's $22 million sale to Exton-based Kensey Nash is acceptable. Synthes, the medical-device manufacturer near West Chester, had to shed its Norian assets as part of a plea bargain to settle criminal charges that it ran an illegal test market of the subsidiary's bone cement from 2002 to 2004.

Synthes Inc. solicited bids from nine companies and then six private equity firms before agreeing to be bought by health-care giant Johnson & Johnson Inc. for $21.3 billion, according to a J&J filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Synthes is a global manufacturer of medical devices, with five facilities in Chester County, but its headquarters is in Switzerland and the company's shares trade on the Swiss stock exchange. The sale was announced April 27 of this year, which has prompted three lawsuits from Synthes shareholders hoping for more.

Attorneys for four local executives guilty in a case involving an illegal clinical trial of a bone cement in the spines of elderly patients - three of whom died - argued for leniency in federal court in Philadelphia Monday. The former executives of medical device maker Synthes Inc. in West Chester pleaded guilty in 2009, but say they were not intimately involved in testing the bone cement, according to their lawyers. "The evidence of intent is insufficient," said Adam S. Hoffinger, lead attorney for Thomas B. Higgins, one of the four former Synthes executives.

In the Region   J&J taken to task by shareholders   Several Johnson & Johnson shareholders took the health-care giant to task during its annual meeting Thursday, citing repeated product recalls, ethical lapses, and excessive executive pay. CEO Alex Gorsky took it in stride, promising improvements and saying J&J was making progress in returning a "reliable supply" of products from its Fort Washington-based McNeil Consumer Healthcare...

Though its Fort Washington plant is still being repaired, and overall profit fell 10.6 percent to $3.5 billion in the first quarter of 2013, Johnson & Johnson said Tuesday that it has put more Tylenol and Motrin on store shelves in the United States through its McNeil Consumer Healthcare unit. "We are pleased with results in our consumer division, with over-the-counter sales in the U.S. up 14 percent," J&J chief financial officer Dominic Caruso said in a conference call with stock market analysts.

NEW YORK - Pharmaceutical companies are pleased that health-care reform means more patients have insurance and will be encouraged to take their medicine to avoid costly hospitalizations. But, as Johnson & Johnson chief executive officer Alex Gorsky said Tuesday, drugmakers want private insurers or government programs such as Medicare and Medicaid to pay them for those drugs at a prices closer to their choosing. "Be aware," Gorsky said, that cost-containment efforts must "ensure we continue to reward innovation," or risk not having new drugs to treat health problems.

Johnson & Johnson's third-quarter overall sales grew 6.5 percent and profits dropped 7.3 percent compared with the same period in 2011, as two of the health care giant's Philadelphia-area businesses were key elements in the good-and-bad financial picture. J&J is famous for Tylenol, Band-Aid bandages and shampoos, but this consumer segment is the last of the three divisions in sales, in part because the McNeil Consumer Healthcare facility in Fort Washington has been shut down since 2010, and the entire consumer unit is operating under legal restrictions.

Like millions of older Americans, especially women, Lois Eskind suffered from osteoporosis, which can cause vertebrae to crumble and result in terrible back pain. Unlike most, Eskind died on the operating table from a heart attack in 2003 minutes after a surgeon injected into her vertebrae a bone cement manufactured, illegally promoted, and tested on unknowing patients by medical device-maker Synthes Inc. Synthes, which was purchased by Johnson & Johnson in June for $19.7 billion, and its Norian subsidiary pleaded guilty in 2010 to criminal charges and paid $23.5 million in penalties.

Generic competition - a billion-dollar problem for brand-name drug companies since the 1980s - is making inroads in the orthopedic-medical-devices industry. Last week, Cardinal Health Inc., one of the three biggest device wholesalers, said it was increasing its offering of lower-cost products for broken bones. This nascent trend, borne of increasing pressure to control health-care costs, represents a direct threat to brand-name device-makers, such as West Chester-based Synthes, which was bought in June by Johnson & Johnson for $19.7 billion.

Johnson & Johnson said Tuesday evening that it plans to complete the largest acquisition in the company's 126-year history on Thursday, taking over medical device maker Synthes Inc., for about $19.7 billion in cash and stock. J&J is based in New Brunswick, N.J., and has operations around the globe, including in the Philadelphia region. Synthes has headquarters in Switzerland and in West Chester. The previously announced tentative price of $21.3 billion was subject to currency and stock prices at the time of closing.

Health-care giant Johnson & Johnson said Tuesday that it plans to sell the trauma segment of its medical-device division for $280 million to Biomet Inc. in hopes of satisfying European Union antitrust concerns about J&J's acquisition of device-maker Synthes Inc. J&J is planning to integrate Synthes and the other pieces of DePuy Orthopaedics. "DePuy Orthopaedics Inc. has received a binding offer from Biomet, a leading, diversified orthopedic company, by which Biomet will acquire the DePuy Orthopaedics' worldwide trauma business," J&J spokesman Bill Price said by e-mail.

After nearly 20 years away from the music business, British synth-pop icon Thomas Dolby launched his return last year with a passion - or rather, several passions. First there was a transmedia game, The Floating City, which was "set against a dystopian vision of the 1940s that could have perhaps existed if WWII had turned out a lot differently," he explains. Participants from around the world took part in the three-month long cyber-game, which wound down shortly before the release of Dolby's corresponding album, A Map of the Floating City.