Varian Medical Systems acquires Sigma Micro Informatique Conseil
17 January 2005
Varian Medical Systems, Inc, (NYSE:
VAR) has announced that it has acquired Sigma Micro Informatique
Conseil, a privately held company supplying information management software
for radiation oncology and medical oncology in cancer clinics and hospitals
in France and other European nations.
Varian paid approximately $13 million in cash to acquire the company,
which is based in Toulouse, France.
"This is a logical extension of Varian's product line that enables us to
offer customers a more comprehensive information management solution,
particularly in international markets," said Christopher Hanna, Vice
President for Varian Medical Systems' Oncology Information Systems
business. "We are committed to providing all the tools needed for
facilitating the delivery of effective cancer treatments."
"We believe the Sigma Micro will serve as an excellent compliment to our
more fully-featured VARiS Vision(TM) software for information and image
management within integrated Varian treatment networks," said Hanna. It also
adds significant development resources to Varian's Oncology Information
Systems' team, he said.
The acquisition enables Varian to provide French-speaking and other
international clinics and hospitals with information management technology
for managing and maintaining electronic health records for cancer patients
receiving radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy. The Sigma Micro software
supports billing in many different reimbursement schemes and works with
equipment from multiple vendors, including Varian. It can be purchased,
installed, commissioned and serviced over the web, making it a low-cost
solution for clinics that are using other software for management of
diagnostic and treatment planning images.
"We are very pleased to be joining Varian Medical Systems, which we
recognize as the world's leading supplier of hardware and software for
radiotherapy," said Sigma Micro's General Manager Pierre Fragnac, Ph.D., a
physicist and one of the company's founders. "By being a part of Varian, we
have the strongest possible platform for developing, marketing, servicing
and supporting our technology."
Varian anticipates the acquisition will initially add annualized revenues
of approximately $7 million and be neutral to earnings for the company in
the current fiscal year. "We expect that our international sales,
service, and support network will contribute to faster and deeper market
penetration for this software product," Hanna said. The Sigma Micro
software has more than 90 installed systems, mostly in France with the
balance in Europe, Asia and North Africa.
Sigma Micro has 19 employees all of whom are expected to continue in
their present roles, working with their existing customers from their
facility in Toulouse.
For further information see:
www.sigmamicro.com and www.varian.com
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