Oncology software assets change hands

Varian Medical Systems has acquired the assets of Denver-based OpTx, a privately held supplier of software for medical oncology practices. Varian, which paid approximately $18 million cash to obtain the assets, plans to continue to develop, sell, install, and service OpTxTools software worldwide as a stand-alone product for medical oncology practices and as part of its VARiS software for coordination with radiation oncology. With this acquisition, Varian is able to offer an integrated single software system for managing and coordinating radiation therapy and chemotherapy routinely used in the treatment of cancer, according to the company. The acquisition is expected to add annualized revenues of $9 million to Varian coffers and be nearly neutral to earnings for the company in fiscal year 2004.