Imatron sells HeartScan-Pittsburgh Center

Ultrafast CT developer Imatron sold another of its U.S. HeartScan coronary artery disease risk assessment centers last month, this one to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. The June 17 deal transferred HeartScan-Pittsburgh operations to the University of Pittsburgh’s Cardiovascular Institute, which plans to start a preventive heart care center using Imatron’s electron beam CT unit.

With its divestiture of HeartScan-Pittsburgh, South San Francisco, CA-based Imatron comes closer to its goal of focusing its efforts on marketing its ultrafast CT units, according to Lewis Meyer, CEO. The company has been seeking individual buyers for each of its centers since earlier this year, after an initial effort to sell all four centers to one buyer failed.

In February, the company sold its South San Francisco facility to Imaging Technology Group, also of South San Francisco, and a month later found a potential buyer for its Houston and Washington, DC centers in Vital Imaging Companies of Newport Beach, CA (SCAN 3/31/99 and 3/17/99). But the Vital Imaging deal fell through due to lack of financing, so Imatron continues to seek a buyer for the two centers, company executives said.

In other Imatron news, the company sold two Ultrafast CT scanners in late June, one to a German hospital and the other to a San Diego facility. The San Diego sale was financed by GE Capital under the terms of a marketing arrangement between Imatron and GE Medical Systems of Milwaukee (SCAN 6/24/98).