A Medical Device Daily

Med-tech giant Medtronic (Minneapolis) on Friday reported a registered offering of $1.25 billion of its 3% senior notes due 2015, $1.25 billion of its 4.45% senior notes due 2020 and $500 million of its 5.55% senior notes due 2040.

Medtronic said it intends to use the net proceeds for working capital and general corporate purposes, which may include the repayment of its indebtedness.

The notes will be senior unsecured and unsubordinated obligations of Medtronic and will rank equally with all of Medtronic's existing and future senior unsecured debt and senior to all of Medtronic's subordinated debt.

Medtronic Neuromodulation faced an advisory committee hearing on Friday for its deep-brain stimulator for treatment of epilepsy, but documents released in advance of the hearing suggested that the clinical trial data may hamper the firm's effort to gain approval for the indication. Apparently the device failed to meet the clinical efficacy endpoint, although by very little. The company intends to ask the panel to vote on the use of the Activa DBS for epilepsy rather than the Kinetra, the unit for which the data in question were collected.

In February, the company was hit with a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court, which accuses Medtronic of purposefully promoting the off-label use of biliary stents to treat cardiovascular conditions (Medical Device Daily, Feb. 25, 2010).

NxStage Medical (Lawrence, Massachusetts), which makes dialysis products, has secured a two-year $15 million revolving line of credit from Silicon Valley Bank (SVB).

The revolving line of credit is subject to a borrowing base of trade accounts receivable, inventory and field equipment and is secured by substantially all of the company's assets. In connection with this agreement, the company amended its term loan and security agreement with Asahi (Tokyo) to grant Asahi junior liens on certain of the company's assets. Borrowings under the agreement bear interest at a rate per annum equal to 2% above the prime rate (initial prime rate of 4%).

"This new credit facility provides additional financial flexibility at favorable interest rates to finance working capital needs as the business continues to grow and to seize future opportunities, when they arise," said Robert Brown, CFO of NxStage Medical. "We remain confident in our ability to achieve break-even adjusted EBITDA in the second quarter of 2010 and positive cash flow thereafter."