Ardian pumps in $47M for high blood pressure device
Ardian , developer of a device that could help treat high blood pressure, has brought in $47 million in a third round of funding led by Medtronic and including Emergent Medical Partners , Advanced Technology Ventures , Morgenthaler Ventures and Split Rock Partners .
Based in Palo Alto, the company claims that its technology relieves hypertension and risk of coronary disease or stroke to a greater degree than drug treatments like ACE inhibitors and beta blockers.
Ardian… Continue Reading
Roundup: Stock market drops, Microsoft retreats, and more
Here’s the latest action:
Tech stocks lead market to new lows — The thing about a downturn is it can always get worse. The Dow and S&P both hit 11-year lows on Monday, with the tech-driven NASDAQ’s 3.7 percent decline outpacing 3.4 percent drops in the blue chip averages.
Microsoft retreats on severance repayment demands — The software giant had initially asked laid off workers to return money that was in excess of planned severance payments, but backed off… Continue Reading
Why dangerous defibrillator leads could usher in new medical-device regulations
(UPDATED: See below.)
Medical-device startups are booming these days, as VCs throw money at everything from artificial spinal-disc fillers to implantable weight-control “neuromodulators” to vacuum devices that suck blood clots out of blocked vessels. (That appears to be in sharp contrast to biotech; see the most recent funding data here.) What relatively few people understand, however, is the degree to which the device industry benefits from looser regulations than those covering biotech — and how that might… Continue Reading
Spinal fusion: Will the Medtronic/Kyphon deal quell ferment in the orthopedic-implant market?
I didn’t write about Medtronics’ $3.9 billion acquisition of Kyphon when it was announced almost two weeks ago, largely because it seemed to be a pretty straightforward merger of two big public companies with relatively few implications for the venture medical-device business.
The good folks at the In Vivo Blog beg to differ, and weighed in earlier this week with a sharp analysis of the deal. To summarize, Kyphon was seen as an upstart in the… Continue Reading
NeuroVista raises $33.8M for epilepsy devices
(CORRECTED: See below.)
Seattle-based NeuroVista, a developer of devices for the treatment of epilepsy, raised $33.8 million in a second-round funding and left behind its former name, BioNeuronics.
The company, founded in 2002 by whiz kid Daniel DiLorenzo, has been quiet about its technology and commercial direction. In April, however, DiLorenzo received a patent for a “neurological control system” using “closed-loop intracranial stimulation” for the “optimal control of neurological disease.” In other words, given NeuroVista’s public interest in… Continue Reading