Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Implant Sciences sells medical IP business

By Mass High Tech Staff

Physical security component maker Implant Sciences Corp. of Wakefield continues to shed medical IP business assets, this time announcing a sale to Best Medical International Inc.

The definitive agreement, closing on September 18, ensures that Best pay $100,000 initially to acquire Implant’s intellectual property from its former brachytherapy products business. According to terms of the agreement, Best will then follow up the initial payment with $100,000 and $200,000 payments spaced over the next two months.

Implant’s business sale supports president and CEO Phillip Thomas’ plan to back out of its medical and semiconductor businesses by December this year. Instead, Thomas said, Implant (AMEX: IMX) will use the profit from sales to grow its security products business.

Earlier this month, Implant sold its medical coatings business, including coating equipment, for $750,000. The company also sold its wholly owned semiconductor subsidiary, Core Systems Inc., in February. Last July, it discontinued sales and manufacturing of its I-Plant radioactive prostate seeds and sold a portion of its assets to an unnamed medical device manufacturer for approximately $350,000.

Interspersed in all the business asset sales, Implant Sciences has landed contracts for its portable explosives detection systems. In May, its Quantum Sniffer system, a handheld device that can detect explosive particulates and vapors, brought in $2.7 million in contracts from Implant’s Chinese distributor, Beijing Ritchie’s Time Co. Ltd. The company said it expects the systems to be used for transportation and facility security throughout China.

Implant backed up its investment in its security business with its acquisition of Ion Metrics Inc. in April. The $2.5 million deal added Ion Metric’s low-cost mass sensor systems for the detection and analysis of chemical compounds to Implant’s security business.

Implant says it is focused on the development of bench-top explosive trace detection systems used domestically and internationally. The firm, which employs 91 workers, reported a 2007 net loss of $10.7 million on revenue of $15.4 million.