After the FDA took the unusual step of seizing 1,300 Alaris SE infusion pumps manufactured by Cardinal Health, the company shut down its factory line. The company says 140,000 of the devices are on the market but pose no serious threats to patients. The company and the FDA agree the problem is with the keypad on the device, which is overly sensitive to pressure and could result in an overdose.

Eclipsys won a two-year, $10 million contract to deploy an electronic health record at Liberty Hospital in Kansas City, despite archrival Cerner being the home-town favorite.

California’s plan to control drug spending is getting more attention. If lobbying efforts and lawsuits do not stop the state, it will give drug makers five years to negotiate discounts. The potential penalty for failing to negotiate? Exclusion from the state’s program for the indigent. Drug companies spent $100 million to defeat the measure, but it appears likely to become law with the support of governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Some Wall Street analysts believe that the drug companies will be obliged to cut the state discounts, and that contract research organizations (CROs) will benefit as the industry looks at its own costs more closely. State action to control drug pricing is becoming more common in the absence of federal legislation to do so.

Google will offer web-based tools for scheduling, email and communications, directly competing with Microsoft for the first time. At first, the free software tools will be targeted at small businesses and nonprofits. But Google eventually plans to charge for its software, too.

Applied Biosystems is sponsoring a software development community that the company hopes will spur innovation in the life sciences. As part of this initiative, Applied Biosystems said it will provide life scientists and independent software vendors (ISVs) open access to its genetic analysis data file format and a data file converter to facilitate the development of next generation bioinformatics applications. The hope is that such tools will enhance productivity and the sharing of data on ABI genetic analysis and real-time PCR sequence detection systems. Among other things, the company hopes to facilitate the sharing of clinical trial results. “Applied Biosystems understands that in order for the life sciences community to ultimately achieve its goal of targeted medicine, an environment of collaboration and innovation is required,” said Dennis A. Gilbert, Ph.D., chief scientific officer for Applied Biosystems. “Our mission is to create a more collaborative environment that provides an open and widely accessible pool of resources that will enable customers and ISVs to develop and bring to market innovative new applications that will allow the research community to find more answers, faster and more cost effectively.”