By TIFFANY TURNER
Medical Device Daily
and MDDs

BioTrove (Woburn, Massachusetts) has filed a registration statement with the SEC for an initial public offering, with plans to use the proceeds to fund development of its OpenArray and RapidFire product lines.

The share price has not been set. The company plans to trade under the ticker symbol BTRV.

Piper Jaffray & Co. and Lazard Capital Markets are acting as joint book-running managers and Robert W. Baird & Co. is acting as co-manager.

BioTrove's OpenArray Platform enables genomics researchers to generate hundreds of thousands of single nucleotide polymorphism and real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction data points per day, with the goal of increasing the number of samples analyzed while decreasing time and costs.

In addition to genomics, the company said the technology is useful in clinical diagnostics, forensics, pathogen detection and biodefense, animal husbandry and crop science. The company said the offering will also help it pursue other applications in areas such as molecular diagnostics, fixed content plates, and immunoassays for ultra-sensitive protein detection.

The company describes its RapidFire high-throughput mass spectrometry (RFMS) hardware system as a "native" detection technology for cytochrome P450 inhibition assays and screening of chemical libraries against biochemical assays. Using microfluidic technology, RFMS facilitates label-free detection of multiple analytes in a range of applications to streamline assay development and provide biologically relevant data. The fully automated platform permits analysis at six to eight seconds per sample.

The company said it also plans to use the funds to build its operating infrastructure, and cover R&D, general and administrative expenses, capital expenditures and working capital needs. Proceeds may also be used to cover anticipated operating losses, as well as support acquisition of new technologies.

BioTrove reported revenues of $4.7 million for 2007, with assets of $31.1 million. Cash and cash equivalents for the year topped out at $18.7 million. At year end, the company had net losses of $15.9 million.

In other financings news:

• ProGenTech (PGT; Emeryville, California/Shanghai, China), developer of a contamination-free, cassette-based automated nucleic acid purification system, reported closing a $21 million Series C financing led by Bay City Capital and DT Capital.

According to the company, the advantage of its automated system is that it eliminates the possibilities of user exposure and cross-contamination via its cassette-based approach. The company's initial products have applications in both research and medical diagnostics.

The company was founded by Steve Yu and Jesus Ching, engineers with experience in biotech instrumentation companies. Yu will remain a director of the company and become its president/COO. Ching will become the CSO.

The company said that previous funding was obtained from angel investors, led by David Hu, who remains a director of the company. The investment by Bay City Capital and DT Capital is the company's first round of venture capital.

ProGenTech reported that Trevor Hawkins, PhD, has joined the company as CEO and chairman. The company said that Hawkins is the primary inventor of the magnetic bead technology used by several commercial biotechnology companies. He was previously CEO of the Philips Molecular Healthcare business and held senior executive roles at GE and MDS.

• Digital Union (DU; North Hollywood, California), a provider of collaboration software available through broadband internet connections, reported closing a $1.7 million Series A funding. It said that the money will be used to expand marketing and distribution of the company's collaboration technology used by institutions in the fields of healthcare, advertising, and entertainment.

DU said it has also has signed a three-year contract with the Center for Advanced Technology and Training, Clinico Hospital (Barcelona, Spain), a training facility for endoscopic surgery, partnering with facilities in London, Paris, "and beyond."

DU focuses on visual decision-making and its real-time collaboration and content-delivery needs. Users collaborate at any distance, from multi-point locations with a high-speed Internet connection.

• Skilled Healthcare Group (SHG; Foothill Ranch, California) said it has exercised its rights to increase the revolving loan commitments of certain lenders under its second amended and restated first lien credit agreement by $35 million.

The total revolving loan commitments under the credit agreement now equal $135 million, and SHG has about $52.5 million of available borrowings under the revolving portion of its credit facility.

SHG operates skilled nursing facilities and a rehabilitation therapy business.

• Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (LabCorp; Burlington, North Carolina) reported that its zero coupon subordinated Liquid Yield Option Notes (LYONs), due 2021, and Zero Coupon Convertible Subordinated Notes, due 2021, may be converted.

LYONs are convertible to common stock at the rate of 13.4108 per $1,000 at maturity of the LYONs.

The Zero Coupon Notes are convertible into cash and common stock, subject to the terms of the Zero Coupon Notes and the indenture, dated Oct. 24, 2006, between LabCorp.

In order to exercise the conversion options holders must validly surrender their LYONs or Zero Coupon Notes at any time through the close of business at 5 p.m., EST, June 30. To date, the company said an "insignificant number" of LYONS and Zero Coupon Notes have been converted. LabCorp is a developer of new diagnostic technologies.

• Grant Life Sciences (Los Angeles) reported that it has received a waiver from The N.I.R. Group (Roslyn, New York), allowing it to pursue alternate financing to pay down, in whole or in part, an existing financing debt to NIR.

"These important developments related to NIR. Group will allow Grant to further advance its serum-based test for cervical cancer in the largest market in the world, China," said Hun-Chi Lin, PhD, Grant's president and chief scientist.

Grant develops kits for the screening, monitoring and diagnosis of diseases with emphasis on women's health, infectious diseases and cancers.