Medical Carbon Research Institute, a Austin, Tex., developer of mechanical heart valves, raised $32 million in debt, revenue interest and royalty conversion in a recapitalization that the company said eliminated most of its debt. MCRI also renamed itself after its leading product candidate, and will now be known as On-X Life Technologies.
Among those contributing to the recapitalization were Paul Capital Healthcare, PTV Sciences and several existing investors.
On-X makes and sells a pure-carbon heart-valve replacement called the On-X Prosthetic Heart Valve, which it claims offers greater toughness and flexible strength than silicon-alloyed carbon used in other heart-valve replacements. The On-X valves won European approval in 2000 and received a U.S. nod in 2002, the company told VentureWire (subscription required).
As a result, the company has been generating reveue for years, and would be cash-flow positive now but for the need to service an undisclosed amount of debt, CEO Clyde Baker told VentureWire. In addition to reducing debt, the cash infusion will allow the company to proceed with a clinical trial designed to show that patients with the On-X valve can reduce or eliminate anti-coagulent treatment required with other mechanical valve replacements.
