by
Thomas Dworetzky, Contributing Reporter | September 12, 2018
Kanteron Systems confirmed in a September 10 blog post on its site that it has reached out to the Agfa-Gevaert NV board to express its nonbinding interest in acquiring the firm.
The proposal, so far, is a voluntary, conditional public takeover offer by the firm to all shareholders of Agfa-Gevaert.
“Agfa Healthcare business unit revenues have been stagnant in the last few years,” it advised in its posting.
“However, a deal with Kanteron would allow Agfa to tap into our leading-edge technology, particularly in pathology and genomics, enabling Agfa to take the lead in the new clinical-information-systems-for-precision-medicine market, which is a huge and disruptive long-term growth opportunity,” said Jorge Cortell, Kanteron Systems’ CEO. “Some of Agfa’s largest international distributors have already signed up with Kanteron Systems. It’s time we give the whole Agfa family access to our innovative technology.”
The post also characterized the initial communications as “early stage,” and warned that “there is no certainty as to whether, and under which conditions, Kanteron Systems may make a public tender offer to the shareholders of Agfa-Gevaert NV.”
Unlike more siloed software systems, Kanteron Systems' platform lets clinicians and researchers make use of a unified and modular system that integrates siloed information for more precise diagnostics, offers a unified 360º view of the patient – with all required tools like zoom, pan, annotate, compare, measure, graph, etc. – can be accessed via any browser without any specially installed client software, is not restricted by user or device licenses, and can either run locally or in the cloud. It is also open source, according to the company website.
In May, Agfa made news when the FDA’s clearance of its
DR 800 multipurpose imaging system in the U.S.
The three-in-one solution cuts down on preparation, waiting and procedure times, while producing images with high quality and low-dose exposure, enabling faster and more confident diagnoses as well as greater uses of rooms.
"Traditional R&F rooms sit dormant in many departments due to the age of the equipment and the limits of the design," George Curley, director of marketing communications for medical imaging at Agfa, told HCB News. "The DR 800 can be used for fluoroscopy in the morning, be used for interventional radiology and specialists such as GI and Pain Management in the afternoon and serve equally well as a general radiology room after hours."
Users can expect to perform a range of procedures, including uncompromising chest imaging, thanks to the solution’s 180 cm SID, and fast, high-precision Full Leg Full Spine exams with its EasyStitch technology.
“We're getting interest from almost all market segments except the small clinical practice segment,” Curley said. “Because of the system versatility and image quality our Dynamic MUSICA image processing brings to fluoroscopy, customers are taking a fresh look at this system design. It can literally be used 24/7.”
