A new contract sterilization company locating near Warsaw hopes to capitalize on the existing strength of the “Orthopedic Capital of the World,” while also expanding into other areas. Canada-based Iotron Industries says Columbia City, located in the agricultural heartland between Warsaw and Fort Wayne, offers the perfect geography for its three-prong growth strategy to increase its business in medical devices, commercial defense and agribusiness.

The $15 million facility in Columbia City is the company’s first U.S. operation and will split the distance between two major industry clusters: Warsaw’s orthopedic sector and Fort Wayne’s commercial defense industry, in which plastics and composites are used in aircraft and aerospace applications.

Indianapolis-based Medical Animatics, a 3D animation company, is making a foray into the game business. The company will develop a game for kids ages 6-12 to help them learn safe behaviors at home, in their neighborhoods, at school or at a park. Medical Animatics will develop the game for Ohio-based Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Health games designed to be both educational and enjoyable are being developed by two other companies with Indiana ties—Bloomington-based Wisdom Tools LLC and Indianapolis-based Gabriel Entertainment, as well as by growing numbers of developers around the country. Medical Animatics also develops 3D animated instructional and informational materials for the health care, higher education and sports industries.

Northern Indiana’s Manchester College plans to begin work this summer on its new $18 million pharmacy school. School spokeswoman Jeri Kornegay said Thursday that a ground-breaking for the 75,000-square-foot building in Fort Wayne is expected early this summer, possibly in June. Until the building is complete in July 2012, the college’s School of Pharmacy will continue to occupy space at Parkview Hospital in Fort Wayne, about 30 miles east of North Manchester. The project is supported by a $35 million grant from Lilly Endowment that’s the largest gift in the college’s history. While pharmacy schools have opened on a rapid pace around the nation in recent years, Indiana is one of 18 states with a shortage of pharmacists. Manchester’s will be the third in Indiana offering doctorates in pharmacy, joining schools at Butler University in Indianapolis and Purdue University in West Lafayette.

Indianapolis-based medical device maker NICO Corporation announced at the American Association of Neurological Society (AANS) annual meeting that it has received CE Mark approval for its automated minimally invasive brain tumor removal device, the NICO Myriad™. The approval allows NICO to sell the Myriad system in the 27 countries that make up the European Union. The device has been commercially available in the United States since 2009 with more than 1,000 procedures performed with adults and children, sometimes in cases that would have previously been considered inoperable.

On a sad note, Bill Cook, founder of the Bloomington-based medical equipment manufacturer Cook Group Inc., passed away this past week.  He was 80 years old.  Cook built Cook Group Inc. into a worldwide conglomerate, with 42 companies under its umbrella. The Cook Group employs about 10,000 worldwide with sales estimated at more than $1.5 billion.  Cook’s company is one of the largest employers in Central Indiana, with about 3,000 workers in the Bloomington area.