Diagnostic Hybrids could add depth, innovation to Quidel’s line of diagnostic tests — MedCity Weekend Rounds, Jan. 16, 2010

Here are six of the top stories at MedCity News this week:

Quidel Corp., the San Diego, Calif., company that makes diagnostic tests used at the point of patient care, has agreed to acquire Diagnostic Hybrids Inc. in Athens, Ohio, for $130 million in cash. Based on technologies licenced from two Ohio universities, Diagnostic Hybrids develops and makes cellular and molecular diagnostic kits, which could add depth and innovation to Quidel’s more basic product line.

Michael Feuer, a co-founder of office supply superstore OfficeMax and self-described “marketing, creative, writing” guy is adding his sense of drama to health and wellness products. The name of his new Westlake, Ohio, store? Max-Wellness, of course. Feuer thinks now is the right time to cash in on the $100 billion-a-year wellness industry.

His company faces millions of dollars in new taxes, stingier payers, Congressional conflict-of-interest investigations and a more aggressive Food and Drug Administration. But Medtronic CEO Bill Hawkins seemed downright cheerful when discussing the company’s prospects at the annual JP Morgan Health Care Conference Monday.

Just when proponents of a much-needed, but long-elusive angel investment tax credit in Minnesota dared to hope, Rep. Ann Lenczewski crashed the party. The powerful House Tax Committee chairwoman has unexpectedly proposed a bill of her own.

A renewal of the Ohio Third Frontier project took another step toward the May ballot this week, a little leaner than first proposed. The Ohio House of Representatives voted 85-13 to place a $950 million bond issue before voters on May 4 that would renew the state’s largest economic development project for five years.

EnteroMedics Inc. in Roseville, Minn., which is developing a device that uses electricity to treat obesity and diabetes, announced encouraging results from its latest clinical trial on Thursday. One major problem: EnteroMedics is a company dangling precariously from a cliff.