GE Healthcare said Monday it was buying Orbotech Medical Solutions Ltd., a subsidiary of Israeli business Orbotech Ltd. and a producer of the nuclear medicine detectors used in some of its SPECT scanners, for up to $14 million.

Under the deal, Waukesha, Wisc.-based GE will pay $9 million cash up-front and $5 million later if performance-based milestones are reached.

The companies said the agreement would close by the first quarter of 2011.
Orbotech, based in Yavne, Israel, manufactures cadmium zinc telluride detectors used in GE's Alcyone nuclear medicine technology, and available in the company's Discovery NM 530c SPECT scanner and the Discovery NM/CT 570c SPECT/CT scanner.

GE said the technology, launched last year and focusing on the nuclear cardiology market, reduces scan times and provides up to a four-fold cut in radiation dose.

"We believe the future of nuclear medicine lies in the further development of CZT used in our Alcyone technology," Nathan Hermony, general manager, nuclear medicine for GE Healthcare, said in a statement.

In August, GE inked a deal with Israeli startup Arineta Ltd. to create CT scanner technology focused on heart disease. And last month, GE bought Clarient Inc., an Alisa Viejo, Calif-based molecular diagnostics company, in a deal valued at $580 million.

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