South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. said Tuesday it has joined hands with U.S.-based Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. in a bid to expand its presence in the medical industry with its smartphone business slowing down. 
   
Under the deal, Samsung will supply various point-of-care (POC) devices to its counterpart, which the U.S. National Institutes of Health defines as instruments that "enable patient diagnoses in a physician's office, an ambulance, anywhere in the field, including a home, or in a hospital."
   
"We are very excited to leverage Thermo Fisher Scientific's strong commercial sales and service channels, as well as the potential to offer a broader range of tests to our customers and their patients," Samsung said in its release.
   
Samsung Electronics has Samsung Medison Co., a local medical device maker that became its affiliate in 2011. The tech giant also acquired U.S.-based computed tomography firm NeuroLogica in January 2013 as part of a move to expand its non-handset business.
   
"Samsung has developed a compelling and innovative suite of POC platforms," Thermo Fisher Scientific said in its release. "We look forward to working with Samsung to add some of our leading biomarkers and assays to their platforms to create a truly differentiated testing menu." (Yonhap)