July 10, 2006—Late Friday, Hologic Inc (Bedford, Mass) announced its compliance with a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) consent order regarding Hologic’s 2005 acquisition of Fischer Imaging Corp’s (Northglenn, Colo) mammography intellectual property assets.

When Hologic purchased Fischer’s women’s health assets, the FTC filed a complaint against the deal, alleging that Hologic held a “virtual monopoly” over marketing stereotactic breast biopsy systems in the United States. Hologic had purchased Fischer’s Mammotest prone bed breast biopsy system as part of the deal, and faced no competition except Giotto USA, whose sales have been minimal in its past 3 years on the market.

According to the consent agreement, which will be approved by the FTC pending a 30-day public comment period, Hologic will sell all intellectual property related to the Mammotest system to Siemens AG for $6.5 million. However, Hologic will retain a royalty-free, nonexclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide right and license to use the intellectual property; the net impact of the agreement is expected to have a positive effect on Hologic’s operations.

Hologic also announced that the FTC has closed its investigation into the company’s pending acquisition of Suros Surgical Systems Inc (Indianapolis). The deal will move forward subject to standard closing conditions and Suros stockholder approval.

–Cat Vasko