VentureBeat

One deal down – Sucampo Pharmaceuticals, which had filed to raise as much as $69 million in its IPO (we covered them briefly here), priced its IPO well below expectations. Although the company had planned to sell shares for $14 to $16 apiece, it ended up pricing today at $11.50, a 23 percent discount. If the company still manages to over-allotted stock, it will fall just shy of raising $50 million. Sucampo shares, however, were up in early trading to $12.25, according to Nasdaq.

Amedica’s IPO is off… is an acquisition in the wings? – The Salt Lake City spinal-impant maker announced this morning that it is withdrawing its IPO bid due to “market conditions.” Oddly, though, the company hasn’t yet filed a withdrawal statement with the SEC (check it out yourself here). Perhaps the market for device makers is cooling the same way it has for biotechs, or maybe Amedica has just gotten a better offer. The company certainly isn’t hurting for cash — it raised $13.2 million just days before filing its IPO papers, and CEO Ashok Khandkar said in the company’s statement that Amedica has “sufficient funding” to finish its manufacturing facilities and launch its spinal implants in 2008.

Our previous coverage of Amedica is here, here and here.

Amedica, a Salt Lake City device maker focused on spine, knee and hip implants, set its IPO terms and now hopes to raise as much as $80.2 million. The company plans to sell up to 5.3 million shares at a price of $13 to $15 apiece.

You can find our previous coverage of Amedica here and here. The company is notable in part because it listed the threat of government healthcare reform as a “risk factor” to its business in its SEC filing. It expects to launch its first spinal-implant products next year.

Salt Lake City-based Amedica filed to raise up to $74.8 million in an IPO, just a week after it raised $13.2 million in a fourth funding round. The maker of ceramic implants for spinal and joint repair said it doesn’t expect its first products to reach the market until next year.

Amedica’s S-1 filing, by the way, is the first I can recall seeing that explicitly lists “healthcare reform” as one of its major risk factors:

We face significant uncertainty in the industry due to government healthcare reform.

Political, economic and regulatory influences are subjecting the healthcare industry to fundamental changes. Reforms under consideration in the United States include mandated basic healthcare benefits, controls on healthcare spending, increases in insurance premiums and increased out-of-pocket requirements for patients, the creation of large group purchasing organizations that aim to reduce the costs of products that their member hospitals consume, and significant modifications to the healthcare delivery system. We anticipate that the U.S. Congress and state legislatures will continue to review and assess alternative healthcare delivery systems and payment methods. Due to uncertainties regarding the ultimate features of reform initiatives and the timing of their enactment and implementation, we cannot predict which, if any, of such reform proposals will be adopted, when they may be adopted or what impact reform initiatives may have on us.

This may be standard boilerplate these days, but like they say on TV, it was new to me.

Check out Amedica’s filing and its press release for more.

Amedica, a Salt Lake City maker of ceramic implants for spines and joints, raised $13.2 million in a fourth round of funding. Creation Capital placed the financing. The company had previously raised more than $30 million.

The company is developing a line of ceramic knee, hip and spinal-disk replacements, along with related ceramic spine implants. Its release is here.