Sterling adds Winthrop to worldwide identity

Sterling Drug changed its name and streamlined its global operatingstructure last week. The Kodak subsidiary will now be called SterlingWinthrop. The name is familiar to medical imaging professionals,since Sterling's medical imaging contrast agents have been marketedhistorically by the drug firm's Winthrop Laboratories division.

Sterling adopted the Winthrop name for its pharmaceutical businessin 1919. Kodak purchased New York City-based Sterling Drug fouryears ago (SCAN 2/03/88).

Sterling Research Group, where Winthrop's in-house contrasttechnology is developed, has been relabeled the Sterling WinthropPharmaceuticals Research Division.

Sterling Winthrop's overall medical imaging agent businesslies within the Sterling Winthrop Pharmaceuticals Group, one oftwo global lines of businesses delineated in the corporate restructuring.The other half of the business, over-the-counter drugs, will bethe responsibility of the Sterling Winthrop Consumer Health Group.

Sterling's identity change and operational streamlining weremade in response to its alliance with Sanofi of France. The twoagreed earlier this year to cooperate globally in product developmentand marketing (SCAN 1/16/91).

The combined businesses of Sterling Winthrop and Sanofi amountto over $2 million in annual sales, which ranks the team amongthe top 20 pharmaceutical companies, Sterling Winthrop said.

Sterling Winthrop Pharmaceuticals will control the operationsof Sanofi Winthrop, a pharmaceutical alliance functioning in theAmericas and Asia/Pacific regions.

Winthrop Pharmaceuticals in the U.S. will now be called SanofiWinthrop Pharmaceuticals, USA. It will be headed by presidentHarry Shoff. Sanofi Winthrop Pharmaceuticals, International, ledby president Jacques Boisvert, will manage Sanofi Winthrop pharmaceuticaloperations outside of the U.S.

John Pieters, president of the European Pharmaceutical divisionof Sterling Winthrop Pharmaceuticals, will interface with Sanofiin Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

BRIEFLY NOTED:

• Acoustic Imaging will lay off 49 employees in Phoenixas part of the ultrasound vendor's integration with Dornier MedicalSystems operations in the U.S. (SCAN 9/11/91). AI reported lastmonth that it is reorganizing its corporate headquarters staffand will consolidate service activities with DMS in Atlanta. AIservice employees will now report directly to the internationalservice division of DMS.

The corporate reorganization will help focus AI resources ondeveloping advanced ultrasound technology, said Reinhard Warnking,AI president and CEO. Parent Dornier Medizintechnik of Germanyis attempting to make better use of the synergies that exist betweenits ultrasound subsidiary and the firm's worldwide medical operations.

• American Shared Hospital Services of San Francisco istalking to a potential purchaser of one of its shared-servicebusinesses. ASHS "has agreed to allow an unaffiliated third-partyhealth-care provider to conduct an in-depth investigation of oneof American Shared's non-MRI divisions," the imaging servicesfirm reported last month.

The talks will hopefully lead to a cash purchase of the divisionby December, the firm said. ASHS has indicated its intention tosell off less profitable, low-technology imaging modalities inorder to concentrate on high-end modalities such as MRI, single-photonemission computed tomography, and color-flow Doppler ultrasound(SCAN 9/25/91).

• Bayer AG of Germany will transform its umbrella U.S. structure,which includes medical imaging vendor Agfa, from a holding toan operating company, effective January. Bayer will use the nameMiles for the new operating company.

Miles is the name of a sister subsidiary to Agfa of Bayer USA,the present holding company. The German company is prohibitedfrom using the Bayer name for an American operating company aspart of an agreement with Sterling (see story, left), manufacturerof Bayer aspirin in the U.S.

The move follows a major reorganization of Agfa's U.S. medicaloperations aimed at better worldwide coordination of R&D andmarketing functions (SCAN 8/14/91). The new U.S. operating companywill streamline communications and decision-making and make useof service synergies among Bayer's businesses in the U.S., saidHelge H. Wehmeier, president and CEO.

• S&S Inficon intends to purchase the business assetsof the Angiotec division of Andros Analyzers of Berkeley, CA.Angiotec supplies image analysis and archiving products for usein cardiac catheterization laboratories. Andros decided to discontinuethe Angiotec operations in order to concentrate on gas analysisinstrumentation.

The Angiotec business will complement S&S Inficon's digitalvideofluorography products used in digital cardiac imaging applications."We plan to stress our commitment to the medical imagingmarketplace as a whole with this acquisition," said WilliamGreenway, executive vice president of S&S Inficon of Liverpool,NY.

• GE-CGR opened a European business center in Buc, France,last month. The center consolidates much of GE's medical imagingdevelopment and manufacturing work in Europe. It also providesa central point for GE's European users to work with the vendoron emerging technologies and clinical applications development.

"This provides a genuine European headquarters locationwhere customers can come, interact with our technologists, viewproducts and perform development work with us in MRI and x-ray,"said Steven C. Riedel, GE-CGR president and CEO.

Three-fourths of GE's global x-ray engineering work will becentered in Buc. GE will use the European center to develop technologyfor radiation therapy, mammography, vascular systems, remote radiography/fluoroscopyand all of GE's digital x-ray products. Although GE MRI systemsare manufactured in Japan and the U.S., Buc engineers work withEuropean doctors on MRI applications development, he said.

• Hewlett-Packard will assemble and market its HP Sonos100 cardiac ultrasound scanner in the Soviet Union through a jointventure with Almaz Scientific Industrial of Moscow. The two companieswill create a new jointly owned company called Almed to handlethe ultrasound business. HP has sold medical equipment in theSoviet Union for 16 years. Three years ago, the U.S. firm initiatedsales of Sonos 100 using a Cyrillic-character screen and Cyrillictraining manuals, the company said.