Support surfaces

LOS ANGELES - Anodyne Medical Device spread its wings in late June, acquiring PrimaTech Medical Systems and proclaiming itself the nation's leading designer and manufacturer of specialty support surfaces and patient positioning devices. By rolling in Oklahoma City-based PrimaTech, a value supplier of electronically controlled specialty support systems, Anodyne gains a significant position in the HME/homecare and long-term market, said Mark Bitner, Anodyne's chairman and CEO. Previously, the company's support surfaces included higher-priced features more suited for acute care than the home. "It really was a perfect fit," Bitner said of the acquisition. But that's not all. Along with its line of alternating pressure and low air loss products, PrimaTech brings an exclusive partnership with Suzric Enterprise, a manufacturer in Taiwan. By combining low-cost Asian manufacturing with sophisticated research and design based in the United States, Anodyne can enhance PrimaTech's existing products and offer them to HMEs at a competitive price, Bitner said. "It's a new model to have the research and development team and designer and quality system domestically and have offshore manufacturing capability under one umbrella," said PrimaTech's owner Dikran Tourian, who has joined Anodyne as executive vice president of sales and marketing. A duo of private investment companies created Anodyne in early 2006. Since then, the roll up, in an attempt to dominate a fragmented and growing market, has acquired four companies (AMF Support Surfaces, SenTech Medical Systems, Anatomic Concepts and PrimaTech). As a privately held company, Bitner declined to reveal Anodyne's annual sales numbers, but he said the PrimaTech acquisition positions the company as the market leader. "We believe we are perfectly positioned to offer providers a complete product line," he said.