VentureBeat

TODAY’S HEADLINES:

• PolyRemedy, developer of robotic wound care, takes in $25M (release)
• Bacchus Vascular gets $15M for clot-busting device (VentureWire)
• Protein-evolution company Modular Genetics gets $1.2M (VentureWire)
• PharmatrophiX gets $300K for Alzheimer’s disease prevention drugs (release)
• Light Sciences Oncology withdraws IPO (Edgar)
• Arizona’s Translational Accelerator launches $20M life-sciences fund (bizjournals.com)
• Cornea-reshaper Avedro gets $7M (VentureWire)
• Gastrotech Pharma gets $6M in wake of Lilly deal (VentureWire)
• Biomaterials maker MiMedx goes public via reverse merger (release)
• Acrongenomics to complete acquisition of Molecular Vision by the end of Q1 (release)

PolyRemedy, developer of robotic wound care, takes in $25M – Mountain View, Calif.-based PolyRemedy, a developer of systems that robotically manufacture wound dressings for patients, raised $25 million in a second funding round. Investors included Advanced Technology Ventures, IDG Ventures Boston, MedVenture Associates and Harris & Harris Group.

PolyRemedy has been keeping quiet about its work until now, but the company’s release lays out its strategy, which is to fabricate customized wound dressings at the “point of care” — here, apparently, doctors’ offices and home-care situations. The goal is to provide better treatment for chronic wounds such as diabetic ulcers, a common complication of diabetes that can manifest in the feet and other extremities as a result of nerve damage and poor blood circulation. The company claims its technology has been proven in clinical trials, but hasn’t provided any details.

Bacchus Vascular gets $15M for clot-busting device – Bacchus Vascular, a Santa Clara, Calif., developer of devices for local drug treatment of blood clots, raised $15 million in an extension of a recent recapitalization round, VentureWire reports. Investors included Vertical Group, Warburg Pincus, Kaiser Permanente Venture Development and Bacchus founder Thomas J. Fogarty.

Bacchus makes and markets a system it calls Trellis, which is a minimally invasive, catheter-based device consisting of two inflatable balloons and a “dispersion wire.” Physicians thread the catheter through the clot and inflate balloons at each end of it, then infuse a clot-busting drug directly into the clot. The dispersion wire then mechanically helps break up the clot, whose remains are then sucked out through the catheter. Bacchus is currently focused on deep-vein thrombosis, which are large clots usually located in the legs. Its device was approved in 2005, and the company intends to use the new funds to expand its marketing efforts.

Bacchus restarted with a $7.6 million recapitalization in June 2006 after apparently exhausting the patience of two initial investors, Three Arch Partners and De Novo Ventures, who haven’t participated in subsequent fundings. Prior to the recapitalization, Bacchus had raised $40 million, according to VentureWire.

Protein-evolution company Modular Genetics gets $1.2M – Modular Genetics, a Cambridge, Mass., biotech that engineers new proteins with enhanced function, raised $1.2 million toward an expected $5 million fourth funding round, VentureWire reports. Individual investors provided the funding.

Modular makes a gene-engineering system it calls the CombiGenex that can shuffle and recombine genes in order to make modified or novel proteins. By making thousands of slightly different molecules and then screening for the ones with improved functions, Modular aims to “evolve” new proteins for therapeutic uses.

PharmatrophiX gets $300K for Alzheimer’s disease prevention drugs – San Francisco’s PharmatrophiX (no Web site), a biotech working on drugs that prevent neurodegenerative disease, received a $300,000 grant from the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation. Founded by Stanford researcher Frank Longo, PharmatrophiX is developing a class of drugs that mimic the activity of proteins called neurotrophins, which aid in the development, health and survival of neurons.

Light Sciences Oncology withdraws IPO – Bellevue, Wash.-based Light Sciences Oncology, a developer of light-activated chemotherapy, withdrew its $96.6 million IPO, citing “unfavorable market conditions.” Light Sciences becomes the seventh life-science startup to yank an IPO filing this year.

Light Sciences has kept hope alive for an awfully long time. The company originally filed its registration statement in April 2006, but hasn’t amended it since September of that year. Light Sciences raised $30 million in a second funding round last July, despite its still-active IPO registration.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this item misstated PolyRemedy’s systems as “robotically apply[ing] wound dressings.” I’ve restated that to match the description in the second paragraph, which accurately describes the systems.

Featured companies: American Oriental Bioengineering, Guangxi Boke, Inspired Technologies, Nanosphere, Patton Medical Devices

UPDATED: Expanded items on Nanosphere and Patton Medical Devices.

Molecular-diagnostics firm Nanosphere sets IPO range, now expects $129M — Northbrook, Ill.-based Nanosphere, a maker of nanotech-derived molecular diagnostics, now expects to raise up to $129 million by selling as many as eight million shares in an initial offering. The company’s latest SEC filing is here. Nanosphere intends to price its shares between $14 and $16 apiece.

The latest IPO terms represent a significant step up from Nanotech’s initial plan to raise $100 million in the offering, which we wrote about here (seventh item). Either way, it’s still a fairly princely sum, particularly given that only two U.S. pharma/biotechs — the specialty pharmas Jazz Pharmaceuticals (covered here) and Eurand — have managed to pull in more than $100 million with IPOs this year. Of course, none of these companies holds a candle to Talecris Biotherapeutics, which apparently still thinks it can raise $1 billion in an initial offering.

Nanosphere manufactures a molecular-diagnostics system, called Verigene, which runs sophisticated protein and nucleic-acid detection tests for personalized medicine and other uses. Its first two tests were approved within the past month — one tests for specific gene variants that affect how quickly a patient metabolizes a clot-prevention drug (see our discussion of this sort of test), while the other identifies gene mutations linked to a higher risk of blood clots. Nanosphere is also developing tests for cancer and heart disease applications.

This sort of genomics-related diagnostics is certainly hot right now, which may explain the company’s confidence in its IPO chances. On the other hand, if investors are merely embracing biotech diagnostics at the expense of biotech therapies — perhaps under the assumption that diagnostic tests are less risky and complex than biotech drugs — then chances are good that they’ll end up disappointed.

IPOHome notes that Nanosphere is expected to hit the market in the week of Oct. 29. Keep an eye out for it.

Patton Medical raises $15M for insulin ports — Austin, Tex.-based Patton Medical Devices, a medical-device company focused on diabtes care, raised $15 million from private investors. The company is developing a surgical “port” through with diabetics can inject insulin without further piercing the skin.

HEADLINES OF NOTE:

• Inspired Technologies takes in funds for lung treatment (release)
• American Oriental acquires Guangxi Boke for $36.5M (release)
• SpineOvations, maker of injectable spine-stabilization products, names new CEO (release)

Featured companies: CG Therapeutics, Complete Genomics, ConforMIS, Flexible Medical Systems, LeMaitre Vascular, MAP Pharmaceuticals, ParaPro, Vascular Architects, Zars Pharma

(UPDATED on 10/1/07: See below.)

[NOTE: Posting has been slow recently for personal reasons. I'll be doing my best to catch up today.]

Complete Genomics raises funding for high-speed sequencing — Complete Genomics, a Mountain View, Calif., developer of high-speed genome sequencing technology, said it raised an undisclosed sum in a second funding round, VentureWire reports (subscription required). The company said the funding was significantly larger than its $6 million first round last year, but declined to say by how much. Investors included OVP Venture Partners and Enterprise Partners Venture Capital.

Complete Genomics is one of several companies aiming to bring down the cost of genome sequencing in order to, among other things, eventually make it possible for individuals to base medical and lifestyle decisions on their individual genetic profiles. The company, founded in 2005, hasn’t disclosed many details about its technological approach, although its Web site vaguely describes it as “a novel combination of high-density DNA nanoarrays, sequencing-by-hybridization and combinatorial probe-ligation chemistry, and high-performance computing techniques.”

The high-speed sequencing market has been in a state of flux recently. Cambridge, Mass.-based Helicos Biosciences, went public in May. Solexa, a U.K.-based sequencer that later moved to the U.S., also went public in 2005 via a reverse merger and then was acquired earlier this year by Illumina. 454 Life Sciences was acquired by Roche earlier this year. VentureWire also lists Pacific Biosciences as a recent venture-backed sequencing company.

UPDATE: Complete Genomics announced an interesting new joint venture with BioNanomatrix of Philadelphia ten days after this funding; see our coverage here.

MAP Pharma prices IPO, looks to raise $92M — Mountain View, Calif.-based MAP Pharmaceuticals said it plans to price its initial-offering shares at $14 to $16 apiece, a range that could potentially raise $92 million. That’s up from the $86 million take MAP estimated in June (see our coverage at the time).

MAP makes reformulated versions of existing drugs for delivery via inhalers. Its lead candidate is a new inhaled version of budesonide, a corticosteroid used to treat pediatric asthma.

Implant maker ConforMIS ponders new funding, possible IPO — ConforMIS, a Lexington, Mass., medical-device company, is raising a “mezzanine” round of financing while it plans for an IPO within two years, VentureWire reports. The company, which makes personalized knee implants, raised a $10 million “debt facility” in August (see our coverage in the second item here).

LeMaitre acquires Vascular Architects for $2.8M — LeMaitre Vascular, a publicly traded maker of devices and implants for vascular surgery based in Burlington, Mass., acquired venture-backed Vascular Architects of San Jose, Calif., for $2.8 million in cash. Vascular Architects makes devices for the removal of plaque deposits that can clog arteries and cause life-threatening blood clots. The company had previously raised more than $42 million in equity and $5 million in debt, according to VentureWire.

Lice-drug maker ParaPro gets $2.1M grant — ParaPro, a Carmel, Ind., specialty pharmaceutical company developing a topical cream for treating head lice, received a $2.1 million grant from Indiana’s 21st Century Research and Technology Fund. The company said the funding will finance late-stage trials of its lice treatment, which it calls Spinosad.

CG Therapeutics names Christopher Henney chairman, seeks funding — Chris Henney, who co-founded three of Seattle’s most successful biotechs — Immunex, Icos and Dendreon — is now also the new chairman (PDF link) of CG Therapeutics, a new cancer-vaccine company in Seattle. The company said Henney will play a key role in lining up corporate partners and seeking new funding. CG Therapeutics is currently working on a first funding round intended to support mid-stage trials of its cancer vaccine in lung and colon cancer.

Zars Pharma delays IPO — Salt Lake City’s Zars Pharma, a developer of topical drugs, postponed its IPO until next week. Zars priced its IPO at $14 to $16 a share in August, and was slated to hit the market this week. See our previous coverage here and in the third item here.

At that, Zars is in far better shape than Cumberland Pharmaceuticals, which has been expected to go public on a day-to-day basis since mid-August. We last wrote about Cumberland here.

Flexible Medical Systems raises $1.2M for remote diagnostics — Rockville, Md.-based Flexible Medical Systems, a device and diagnostics maker focused on non-invasive devices that continuously monitor vital signs, raised $1.2 million in a seed financing. “Accredited investors” provided the funding.

FMS is developing diagnostic monitors that continuously draw “interstitial fluid” through the skin without a needle or other punctures. This fluid can theoretically be used to monitor protein levels in blood, although it’s also worth noting that other attempts to do this sort of thing — especially continuous blood-sugar monitoring for diabetics — have had a mixed history.

Featured companies: Acceleron Pharma, AdvanDx, Altheus Therapeutics, BiPar Sciences, Coventina Healthcare Enterprises, ForteBio, Ganymed Pharmaceuticals, Mako Surgical, Nile Therapeutics, Novate Medical

[NOTE: This briefing was posted on Friday, 9/21/07; I've edited its timestamp to preserve chronological order among the briefings.]

Nile Therapeutics raises $20M, goes public in reverse merger — Berkeley, Calif.-based Nile Therapeutics, a developer of cardiovascular drugs, raised $20 million from new and existing investors and carried out a reverse merger that takes the company public. Investors in the financing included Wexford Capital, RIT Capital Partners, Life Science Capital Master Fund, and other institutional investors. It’s not clear if Nile had raised venture capital prior to this funding.

Nile is at work on a second generation “natriuretic peptide,” which is basically a protein fragment that mimics the function of natural diuretics found in the heart. Nile licensed that drug from the Mayo Clinic; it’s now in early-stage human testing. Nile intends to acquire additional experimental drugs to expand its portfolio.

AdvanDx pulls in $15M for pathogen diagnostics — AdvanDx, a Woburn, Mass., biotech that develops molecular diagnostic tests for identifying infectious pathogens in hospitals, raised $15 million in a third funding round. Investors included bioMérieux, LD Pensions and SLS Venture.

The company’s diagnostic tests can supposedly identify the microbes responsible for bloodstream infections in hours rather than days, as current culturing tests require. The time saved can make it possible to effectively treat patients much sooner. In that sense, AdvanDx’s technology is similar to that of OpGen, which we wrote about in the first item here.

Novate Medical draws in €4M for anti-clot device — Ireland’s Novate Medical, a device maker at work on filters that can be installed in veins to prevent blood clots from reaching the lungs and causing pulmonary embolisms, raised €4 million ($5.5 million). Investors included ACT Venture Capital, Seroba BioVentures and Enterprise Ireland.

The company doesn’t appear to have a Web site.

Antibody company Ganymed adds €3.5M to round — Germany’s Ganymed Pharmaceuticals, a developer of monoclonal-antibody drugs for cancer, added €3.5 million ($4.9 million) to its third funding round, bringing that total to €37.2 million ($52.1 million). The additional funding was provided by ATS Beteiligungsverwaltung of Munich.

Altheus Therapeutics gets $3.6 million against bowel disease — Oklahoma City’s Altheus Therapeutics, a biotech working on new treatments for inflammatory bowel disease, raised $3.6 million to fund clinical trials. St. Louis-based Prolog Ventures, the Oklahoma Seed Capital Fund and Oklahoma Equity Partners provided the funding.

Altheus is developing a treatment that combines two existing drugs, which the company hasn’t identified.

Coventina Healthcare Enterprises gets $150K, moves to Pennsylvania — The seemingly ubiquitous Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse has struck again, investing $150,000 in Coventina Healthcare Enterprises, which then relocated to southwestern Pennsylvania from Texas. Coventina recently acquired the assets of Texas-based Selicor, and now develops therapeutic heating systems that rely on radio-frequency energy.

Mako Surgical seeks an $86M IPO for knee-surgery robots — The Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., company filed to raise up to $86 million in an initial offering. Mako’s robotic-surgery device and knee implants are designed to perform minimally invasive knee operations.

Brownian motion: Personnel moves in the life sciences —

• Acceleron Pharma, of Cambridge, Mass., named John Knopf as CEO. The company develops biotech drugs for muscle and bone injuries.
• BiPar Sciences, of Brisbane, Calif., named former Genentech CEO G. Kirk Raab as its acting chief executive. Raab is also the company’s chairman. The company develops cancer drugs.
• ForteBio, of Menlo Park, Calif., named Joseph Keegan as its new CEO. The company builds instruments designed to speed the discovery of new therapeutics.

Featured companies: BioVascular, Carefx, ClinResearch, Healthcare Management Directions, NanoCor, OxyPlus, Revitus, Spotlight Surgical, United BioSource

UPDATED: See below.

Healthcare IT provider Carefx pulls in $17.9M — Carefx, a Scottsdale, Ariz., provider of hardware and software that “aggregates” patient records, has raised $17.85 million in a third funding round, Private Equity Hub reports, citing a regulatory filing. Investors included Carlyle Venture Partners and UV Partners.

Carefx’s pitch is basically the same as that from any system integrator — a term guaranteed to glaze eyes in most circumstances — in that they offer to tie together hospital-patient information that’s currently scattered across disparate computer systems. As with all system-integration pitches, it sounds like a terrific idea, if it works. Of course, many systems-integration efforts often only work after creating a significant amount of chaos and disarray within their respective organizations, which would certainly be interesting in critical-care areas such as the emergency room or intensive care. None of which to say that efforts to make electronic medical records more comprehensive and easier to use aren’t worthy, of course.

Medical imager Spotlight Surgical pulls in $7.4M — San Francisco’s Spotlight Surgical, a maker of medical-visualization software, raised about $7.42 million in a second funding round, Private Equity Hub reports, citing a regulatory filing. Attractor Ventures led the round.

Secretive drug developer OxyPlus gets $8M — OxyPlus, a Boston biotech working on drugs for cancer and heart disease, raised $8 million in a first funding round, VentureWire reports (subscription required). Index Ventures provided the funding, which follows an undisclosed amount of angel seed investment.

From the VentureWire story:

Based in Boston, OxyPlus is developing compounds discovered by Claude Nicolau, a professor at the Universite Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg, France, and Jean-Marie Lehn, a professor at the College de France. [President Conrad] Bletzer said the company is keeping the scientific details under wraps, but the company’s drugs are being targeted for several high-profile indications. “They’re small molecules for the treatment of cardiovascular issues and cancer,” he said.

Medtronic pumps up to $7.5M into heart treater NanoCor — Chapel Hill, N.C.-based NanoCor Therapeutics, a biotech working on gene therapy for heart failure, raised $3.75 million from Medtronic, with another $3.75 million dependent upon certain performance milestones.

For some reason, NanoCor doesn’t want to come right out and say it’s a gene therapy company — instead, it wants to create the first “intracellular genetic protein therapy” for heart failure. That amounts to the same thing, since the company plans to use some sort of nanoparticle to shuttle a “proprietary” and so-far unnamed gene to the heart, where it will be taken up by heart cells in order to begin producing some form of useful protein.

NanoCor plans to use nanoparticle technology from Asklepios BioPharmaceutical, or AskBio, from which NanoCor was spun out in 2005. Medtronic will have certain rights to license any resulting treatment.

Healthcare Management Directions gets almost $1.5M for “smart hospitals” — Brentwood, Tenn.-based Healthcare Management Directions, developer and would-be operator of “smart hospitals” with a heavy emphasis on IT systems and electronic records, raised just under $1.5 million in a first funding round following its 2004 recapitalization, VentureWire reports. Investors included Evergreen Investments and new and undisclosed individual and institutional investors. The funding will cover the firm’s investment in an Oklahoma facility it plans to manage.

Heart-drug developer BioVascular acquires Revitus for platelet drug — BioVascular, a San Diego biotech at work on anti-clotting drugs, acquired Revitus, another biotech working on similar drugs. Terms of the deal weren’t announced. Revitus was founded out of the Oregon Health & Science University in 2004.

United BioSource acquires controlling stake in ClinResearch — United BioSource, a Bethesda, Md., a provider of various services to the life-sciences industry, acquired a controlling stake in ClinResearch, a German firm with expertise in designing and conducting flexible, or “adaptive,” clinical trials. The companies didn’t announce financial terms.

UPDATE (1:00pm PT): Added items on NanoCor, Healthcare Management Directions, BioVascular/Revitus, and United BioSource/ClinResearch.

Featured companies: Atritech, Avalon Partners, Ensemble Discovery, Hyperion Therapeutics, LifeBond, ReShape Medical, SafeStitch, Trophos, UltraShape

Hyperion Therapeutics raises $40M against GI and kidney disease — Hyperion Therapeutics, a South San Francisco, Calif., specialty pharmaceutical company, raised $40 million in a second funding round. Investors included Sofinnova Ventures, Highland Capital Partners, New Enterprise Associates and WRF Capital.

Hyperion, which buys the rights to test and market drug candidates from other companies, said the proceeds will allow it to complete a licensing agreement with Medicis Pharmaceutical’s Ucyclyd subsidiary, build out its management team and advance its clinical trials. The company’s two leading candidates address a genetic disease called urea cycle disorder, in which toxic ammonia builds up in the blood stream, and hepatic encephalopathy, a neurological complication of cirrhosis.

Atritech raises $22M for clot-prevention device — Plymouth, Minn.-based Atritech, a developer of a device designed to prevent dangerous blood clots, raised $22 million in a fourth funding round. Investors included SightLine Healthcare Vintage Fund, Prism Venture Partners and other existing investors.

Atritech’s device, which it calls the Watchman system, is essentially a tiny mesh basket designed to be implanted in the opening to the heart’s left atrial appendage, a small pouch on the top of the heart. That pouch is often the source of blood clots in patients with atrial fibrillation, a condition in which the heart’s upper chambers beat too fast. Ideally, the implanted basket will catch clots that threaten to escape into the bloodstream, where they could cause a stroke.

The funding will allow Atritech to finish enrolling patients in a late-stage trial of the Watchman device, which is being tested against a blood thinner typically given to prevent clots from forming.

UltraShape gets $15.1M for “body contouring” — UltraShape, an Israeli developer of ultrasound systems designed to break down fat cells for cosmetic purposes, raised $15.1 million in a fifth funding round. Investors included Meritech Capital Partners, Israel Seed Partners and Polaris Venture Partners. The company’s non-invasive device isn’t approved for use in the U.S.

Trophos raises $11.6M for neurological drugs — Trophos, a Marseille, France, biotech focused on developing new drugs for neurological conditions, raised $11.6 million (€8.5 million) in a third round of funding. Investors included OTC Asset Management, CM-CIC Capital Privé, Society General Asset Management (SGAM), Viveris Management, Turenne Capital Partners, Blue Medical and the Association Française contre les Myopathies.

Trophos develops drugs that it believes will promote the survival of neurons threatened by degenerative neurological diseases such as Huntingdon’s disease. Its leading candidates target neuropathic pain and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

SafeStitch goes public in reverse merger, raises $4M in debt — SafeStitch, a Miami medical-device maker without a Web site, went public in a reverse merger with the defunct firm Cellular Technical Services. The company will list its shares on the American Stock Exchange. As part of the deal, SafeStitch raised a $4 million line of credit from the Frost Group, a private-equity firm, and also takes control of $3 million in cash held by CTS. The company makes devices for minimally invasive gastrointestinal surgery.

NationsHealth acquires Diabetes Care & Education for $3M — NationsHealth, a Sunrise, Fla., provider of medical products and insurance-related services, acquired Diabetes Care & Education, a provider of insulin pumps and related supplies for diabetics. NationsHealth will pay $3 million, $2.5 million in cash and $500,000 in unregistered common stock.

Obesity-device maker ReShape Medical pulls in $3M — ReShape Medical, a Lake Forest, Calif., developer of minimally invasive medical devices to treat obesity, raised $3 million in a follow-on to its first funding round, PE Hub reported, citing a regulatory filing. Investors included New Leaf Venture Partners and SV Life Sciences. The company was previously known as Abdominis, and has now raised a total of $8 million.

Avalon Ventures raises $84 million in eighth fund — Avalon Ventures, a La Jolla, Calif., venture-capital firm specializing in life-science and wireless-technology companies, raised $84 million in an eighth fund, VentureWire reports (subscription required), citing a regulatory filing. Avalon previously raised $75 million for its seventh fund, which closed in 2005.

LifeBond gets $1.5M for new surgical bandages — LifeBond, a Jerusalem-based device company, raised $1.5 million. Investors included GlenRock Israel and the Zitelman Group.

LifeBond is developing a bandage that exudes a sticky gel when it comes into contact with blood, presumably creating a barrier that minimizes blood loss.

Ensemble Discovery , a Cambridge, Mass., biotech, named former Pfizer vice president Michael Taylor as its CEO. Ensemble is developing new drugs and tests based on large, repetitive molecules called macrocycles.

Ensemble raised $17 million in a first funding round in 2004, and in February VentureWire reported that the company was closing a second round in the “tens of millions.”

Featured companies: Aryx Therapeutics, FlowCardia, Graftcath

FlowCardia raises $30M for artery roto-rooters — Sunnyvale, Calif.-based FlowCardia, a medical-device maker building catheter systems that bore holes in blood clots, raised $30 million in a third funding round. Investors included Gilde Healthcare Partners, Life Sciences Partners, Hambrecht & Quist Capital Management, New Science Ventures, Frazier Healthcare Ventures, JP Morgan Partners, Pappas Ventures, Rockport Venture Partners and Gold Hill Capital. The funding is intended to speed commercialization of the company’s “recanalization” device, which essentially busts through clots that totally block arteries.

Aryx aims to raise $86M in IPO for rejiggered drugs — Aryx Therapeutics, a Fremont, Calif., biotech company that derives ostensibly safer versions of existing drugs, filed to raise up to $85.3 million in an initial offering. The company uses a technology that reengineers these current drugs so they aren’t broken down by the same metabolic pathway in the liver, which is subject to “traffic jams” that can boost drug levels in the blood and lead to side effects.

Aryx’s first candidate is a reengineered form of cisapride, an acid-reflux (read: heartburn) drug better known by the brand name Propulsid, which was withdrawn from the U.S. market after it was linked to heartbeat irregularities. Aryx is also at work on a redone version of warfarin, a blood thinner usually administered to people at risk of blood clots. (See our recent coverage of FDA’s decision to include pharmacogenomic information on the warfarin label that might alleviate side effects here.)

GraftCath aims for $10M to develop better dialysis catheter — Eden Prairie, Minn.-based GraftCath, a medical-device company working on alternative to central venous catheters for kidney-dialysis patients, aims to raise $10 million in a fourth financing round by October, VentureWire reports (subscription required). The news service didn’t name any investors in the round.

From VentureWire:

To initiate dialysis, doctors must create an entranceway into the bloodstream. This can be done by joining an artery to a vein to create a fistula, or by using a graft to connect the artery and vein. Both methods provide adequate blood flow for dialysis, but fistulas are preferred because they use a patient’s own vessels and are less susceptible to infection and to becoming narrowed or occluded.

[When] patients aren’t eligible for fistulas or grafts… [they typically receive a] central venous catheter over the long term for their access point. These catheters put patients at a higher risk for blood-borne infection than either fistulas or grafts. These blood-borne infections, or bacteremias, are dangerous to patients and costly to hospitals. According to a study published in May in the journal Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the mean cost of catheter-related bacteremia is estimated to be $23,451 per hospitalization.

GraftCath claims its device reduces the risk of bacteremia, although VentureWire’s explanation isn’t terribly clear. Supposedly the device is safer because it’s implanted under the skin, although it clearly has to exit somewhere, since otherwise there’s no way to hook up the patient to a dialysis machine, which clears the blood of toxins in people whose kidneys are failing. The company doesn’t have a Web site that might explicate things, either.

Featured companies: Concentric Medical, Vertebration, Vision RT, Kemeta

Clotbuster Concentric Medical files for $69M IPO — Mountain View, Calif.-based Concentric Medical, which makes and markets devices for removing dangerous blood clots from the brains of stroke patients, filed to raise up to $69 million in an initial offering. The company’s devices consist of catheters that are threaded into the body’s circulatory system via the femoral artery in the groin and passed into the brain to the site of the clot. There, a wire at the end of the catheter coils around the clot, permitting its removal.

Although Concentric’s device has been approved since 2004, the company is still losing money despite briskly expanding sales. The company posted a $6.9 million net loss in 2006, down from $9.7 million in 2004. Sales rose to $11.3 million from $2.3 million over the same period.

Concentric’s clot-removal device is based on technology licensed from the University of California. Among the risk factors noted by the company is the fact that the device can malfunction and sometimes causes additional injury to the delicate blood vessels of the brain. Concentric said it has submitted 82 medical-device reports to the FDA as of June 30; in 56 of those events, the device’s tip fractured, and in 22 instances a blood vessel was damaged.

Spinal implant maker Vertebration raises $750K — Vertebration, a Columbus, Ohio, developer of spinal implants, raised a $750,000 seed round, VentureWire reports (subscription required). The funding consisted of $500,000 in venture debt arranged by NCT Ventures and a $250,000 private placement to angel investors.

The company may seek a first funding round of $3.5 million to $10 million later this year, according to VentureWire. Its Web site should be active next week.

From the VentureWire piece:

Columbus, Ohio-based Vertebration plans to take its first product, a spinal implant called Xycor, to market in late October. The implant works to restore the height and space between two vertebrae or a partial vertebra through a minimally invasive procedure. Xycor received 510(k) clearance from the Food and Drug Administration earlier this year. Vertebration is developing instruments to accompany its lead product, as well as other products for the spine market.

Vision RT gets $500K for radiation imaging — Vision RT, a London-based developer of three-dimensional imaging tools for guiding radiation therapy, raised $495,725 (£250,000) from the Capital Fund, VentureWire reports. The company’s tools provide a three-dimensional model of a patient in order to properly direct radiation-beam treatment for cancer and other diseases.

Kemeta takes equity investment from Dow Chemical for breath analysis — Kemeta, a Phoenix developer of breath-analysis systems, said Dow Chemical took a minority equity stake in the company. Details of the transaction weren’t disclosed.

Kemeta aims to produce a palm-sized analyzer that can measure breath acetone, a by-product of burning fat, for use in obesity. The sensor technology was originally developed by Dow.

ImaRx, a Tuscon, Ariz., biotech developing new ways to dissolve blood clots in the lungs, lowered its IPO sights and now expects to raise no more than $17.3 million in the offering. (Its latest SEC filing is here.) Late last month, the company had hoped to raise as much as $25.9 million by pricing its shares between $6.50 and $7.50 apiece.

ImaRx now expects to price its shares at $5 apiece. That will value the company at $50 million following the offering. This is the company’s second shot at an initial offering, and it represents a long decline in ImaRx’s IPO hopes. The company previously hoped to raise $75 million with an IPO in May 2006, a number that had fallen to $60 million by the time it withdrew its application last December. The company re-filed this May.

ImaRx is working on a combination ultrasound and “microbubble” technique for dissolving dangerous blood clots that can lead to stroke. Its microbubbles are composed of an outer fatty-molecule shell and an inert gas, and are small enough to theoretically penetrate blood clots. The microbubbles expand and contract when ultrasound is applied, presumably generating enough dynamic motion to break up a clot. That technique, used in combination with a blood-thinning drug called tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA, is currently in early-stage human tests.

New strategies for attacking clots that can cause stroke or heart attacks are very much in vogue these days. Among venture-backed firms in the field that have recently received funding are EndoVention, Ekos and Portola Pharmaceuticals.

San Francisco’s EndoVention, a developer of catheters for use in blood-clot removal, raised $1.5 million of an expected $2.5 million first round, VentureWire reports (subscription required). Such catheters are flexible tubes that doctors can insert into blocked blood vessels in order to “vacuum out” clots, sometimes with the assistances of clot-dissolving drugs. EndoVention’s device has an “expandable mouth” to regulate the intake of clots.

Angel investors provided the funding, EndoVention CEO Peter Yorke told VentureWire.

Ekos, a Bothell, Wash., maker of ultrasound-enhanced drug-delivery systems, raised $10 million in debt capital from Hercules Technology Growth Capital. The financing will support the sales and marketing of drug-delivery catheters that feature an ultrasound system designed to help drugs break up blood clots more quickly. Ekos launched its catheters in early 2006.

Ekos most recently raised $26 million in a third financing round led by Ascension Health Ventures, joined by new investors Oakwood Medical Investors and Trellis Health Ventures and previous investors CID Equity Capital, EGS Private Healthcare Investors, MedVenture Associates, Mitsui & Co. Venture Partners, Morgan Stanley Venture Partners and NGN Capital.

The company’s release is here.