Medical Imaging Technologies (Meditech) has encountered delays in its anticipated launch of fixed-site positron emission tomography services. The date has been pushed back from the first to the second quarter of this year.
The formerly private company also revealed in an annual report filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission this month that it has, in effect, become a public company.
Officially, Medical Imaging Technologies was purchased by Vista Management, a publicly held shell company. The shareholders of Medical Imaging Technologies took over ownership of Vista, however, and changed its name to Meditech Management.
The end result of the restructuring is that Meditech will have access to public funds. No changes are expected in the firm's operations and PET development strategies, said Vincent W. Montsinger, vice president of marketing and development.
The Knoxville imaging services firm is installing two Positron PET scanners in existing freestanding imaging centers in New York and San Francisco. Meditech originally planned to set up joint ventures and develop PET centers from the ground up (SCAN 4/26/89).
The firm opted instead to piggyback PET cameras on existing magnetic resonance imaging and multimodality centers, seeing that as a quicker way to initiate PET services. It also avoids regulatory issues involving physician joint venture start-ups, Montsinger said.
"This allows us to involve physicians directly without (their having to make) up-front capital payments," he said.
Meditech has signed agreements with radiology groups in both its initial sites. The existing radiologists should function as medical directors for the PET business, although cardiologists are likely to be involved with stress testing. Both scanners will initially use rubidium for cardiac imaging.
"Our plans are to install a cyclotron within a year after we become operational, if it looks feasible. (Using rubidium) allowed us to get up and running quicker, since cyclotrons take about 14 months to deliver from the date of order," Montsinger said.
Meditech also hopes to develop four mobile PET systems this year in a joint venture with Northern Shared Medical Services of Middleton, WI. Although the two companies signed an agreement in September, development of routes did not begin until January.
"We didn't know much about mobile operations and management and we thought it would be a good idea to talk to a mobile company about PET. As it turns out, they were very interested. They believe PET is the up-and-coming mobile modality. It (the joint venture) seemed like a natural marriage," he said.
Although Positron is more advanced than other PET manufacturers in applying the modality to mobile applications, Siemens is also active in this area. Meditech is not wedded to any particular PET vendor, Montsinger said.
The firm hopes to place its first order for a mobile PET system in two to three months and begin operations five months later, he said.
BRIEFLY NOTED:
LSI adds 22 mobile magnetic resonance imaging systems and five mobile lithotripters to MTI's fleet. The purchase price was about $50 million. MTI is the world's largest mobile medical imaging company, running 101 MRI systems, 32 computed tomography scanners and seven lithotripters. The firm operates in 37 states within the U.S. and in Europe.
MTI was acquired last April in a buyout led by Brentwood Associates, a Los Angeles investment firm, and senior MTI management. The private company took in $87.9 million in 1990 revenues.
