Becton Dickinson Co

The company said it has sold its Deseret Medical division, the first of three hospital supply businesses that it put on the market last year, to Becton Dickinson & Co. for cash. The transaction, to be made final in mid-May, stems from Warner-Lambert's announcement last November that it planned to sell the subsidiaries as part of a restructuring program, a company spokesman said.

Crown Management Inc. of Beverly Hills has purchased a 225,000-square-foot industrial facility in Oxnard for about $8.5 million, according to Grubb & Ellis Commercial Real Estate Services, which is handling leasing. Becton, Dickinson & Co. of Franklin Lakes, N.J., sold the 15-acre property in the master-planned North East Industrial District. The Talley Corp.

Med-Design Corp. in Ventura, which designs safety needle products for medical use, reported a net loss of $850,000 or 11 cents per share for the three months that ended June 30. This loss was less than the $900,000 or 11 cents per share reported a year ago for the second quarter. James Donegan, chairman and chief executive officer, said changes in various state laws this year will increase the demand for safety needles and improve Med-Design's position in the market.

A bankruptcy court has approved the sale of certain assets of CellPro Inc., which filed for bankruptcy after losing a patent infringement lawsuit, to an Irvine subsidiary of Delaware-based VIMRx Pharmaceuticals Inc., the VIMRx unit announced Monday. VIMRx's Nexell Therapeutics unit--owned 80% by its Delaware parent and 20% by Baxter Healthcare Corp.--previously agreed to acquire such CellPro assets as intellectual property, patents, research and licenses for $3 million in VIMRx stock.

Luther Medical Products Inc., a Tustin manufacturer of intravenous catheter systems, earned $1,541 for the first fiscal quarter, down from the $24,675, or 1 cent a share, a year ago. Revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 30 increased 7% to $1.6 million from $1.5 million. Luther Medical announced earlier that it had signed a definitive agreement to be acquired by Becton Dickinson and Co. The transaction is scheduled to close in January.

Michael W. Simpson has joined the board of directors for Med-Design Corp. in Ventura, which designs and develops safety needle products for medical use. Simpson recently joined the company as executive vice president and chief operating officer after two years at Becton, Dickinson and Co. Prior to that, he spent five years at Johnson & Johnson, serving as international product director for advance research and development.

AeroGen Inc. settled a contract dispute with Becton Dickinson & Co. by paying $2 million for exclusive rights to patents for insulin inhalers. AeroGen, which makes products to control the delivery of drugs to the lungs, sued Becton Dickinson in federal court in San Jose. The suit, filed in August, accused the medical-device maker of late deliveries of parts used in inhalers for diabetics. Sunnyvale, Calif.-based AeroGen said Becton Dickinson agreed it has no rights to AeroGen's patents or other intellectual property developed by either company for the products under the original contract.

Inventor Ronald B. Luther, whose former company, Luther Medical Products Inc., was sold recently to New Jersey-based Becton Dickinson & Co., announced Tuesday that he has started a new company to compete in the worldwide market for catheters that fit over needles. Luther's former company, based in Tustin, changed hands in a $16.6-million deal and is expected to be relocated to Salt Lake City soon. The 20-year-old company has been a leading manufacturer of IV catheters.