A Medical Device Daily

The law offices of Howard G. Smith said it is investigating potential claims against Hansen Medical (Mountain View, California) concerning possible securities violations related to the company's publicly filed financial statements for 2008 and the first two quarters of 2009. Hansen makes medical robotics designed for accurate positioning, manipulation, and stable control of catheters and catheter-based technologies.

According to the law office, the investigation concerns the company's Oct. 19, announcement that it plans to restate its financial statements for the year ended Dec. 31, 2008 and for the quarters ended March 31, 2008, June 30, 2008, Sept. 30, 2008, March 31, 2009 and June 30, 2009, "in order to correct certain errors regarding the timing of revenue recognition on the sale of some of its Sensei Robotic Catheter Systems." According to the company, the errors "arose from potential irregularities occurring outside of the accounting department, regarding the timing of revenue recognition" for the sales. As a result of this news, shares of Hansen declined about 10%, to close on Oct. 19 at $3.12 a share on unusually heavy volume of more than 1.5 million shares traded.

In other legalities, the law office of Brodsky & Smith said it is investigating potential claims against the board of Allion Healthcare (Melville, New York), a provider of specialty pharmacy and disease management services focused on HIV/AIDS patients as well as specialized biopharmaceutical medications and services to chronically ill patients, relating to the proposed acquisition by H.I.G. Capital (Miami, Florida).

Under the proposed agreement, Allion shareholders will receive $6.60 for every share of Allion common stock they own. Brodsky & Smith said the investigation concerns possible breaches of fiduciary duty and other violations of state law related to the Allion board's approval of the proposed merger. According to the law office, the transaction appears to be unfair, in part, given that Allion stock was trading at $7.02 a share as recently as Sept. 10, and $7.40 a share on July 31.