February 17, 2009 – Over the next several weeks, the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) is offering several education opportunities for its members on the implications and opportunities of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, expected to include $19 billion for health IT and to be signed into law this week.

February 16, 2009 - Thoratec Corp. and HeartWare International last week entered into a definitive merger agreement under which Thoratec will acquire HeartWare for a about $282 million, and the combined company will offer a broad portfolio of approved blood pumping devices for the treatment of heart failure.

February 16, 2009 - Agfa HealthCare said today it completed the deployment of its IMPAX HeartStation ECG Management System at the National Heart Centre in Singapore.

February 13, 2009 - Roche Diagnostics has agreed to fund two new projects aimed at strengthening the commercial success of the Response Biomedical cardiovascular line of products, which Roche is expected to begin marketing in North America this quarter. Response Biomedical and Roche Diagnostics signed a strategic partnership in June 2008 to commercialize Response's cardiovascular tests.

February 12, 2009 - Researchers in The Netherlands say the standard of care of using intra-aortic balloon pumps (IABP) in patients with high-risk STEMI does not appear to help patients, according to a meta-analysis conducted by the Department of Cardiology, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam.

February 12, 2009 - Sanofi-aventis said yesterday the ATHENA trial was published in the New England Journal of Medicine, which shows its drug Multaq (dronedarone), in addition to standard therapy, significantly reduced the risk of first cardiovascular hospitalization or death by 24 percent in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF)/atrial flutter (AFL) or a recent history of these conditions.