A Medical Device Daily

Endosense (Geneva, Switzerland) a medical technology company focused on improving the efficacy, safety and reproducibility of catheter ablation for the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias, reported that it received $36 million in Series B financing. The financing will primarily be used to fund the European commercialization and U.S. premarket approval clinical study of the company's proprietary force-sensing ablation catheter, the TactiCath.

"We believe that Endosense's TactiCath is uniquely positioned to greatly improve the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias, a series of life-threatening disorders that affect millions of patients worldwide," said Olivier Litzka, partner at EdRIP. "Ablation is one of the highest-growth markets in the cardiovascular space. Force measurement during the ablation procedure has become a prime object of interest to improve safety and efficacy for patients. As Endosense with its proprietary force-sensing technology is the clear leader in this field, this represents an excellent investment opportunity to us."

As part of the Series B activity, Endosense has made several board appointments to reflect its new shareholder mix. EdRIP Partner Olivier Litzka, Gimv Executive VP Life Sciences Patrick van Beneden and VI Partner Diego Braguglia have become directors.

"This $36 million financing is a major achievement for Endosense," said Eric Le Royer, president/CEO of Endosense. "We believe this investment speaks to the potential of our force-sensing technology and the tremendous clinical value it is anticipated to provide to physicians and patients."

Granted the CE mark in May 2009, Endosense's TactiCath is a force-sensing ablation catheter designed to give physicians a real-time, objective measure of contact force during the catheter ablation procedure. It has undergone considerable pre-clinical and clinical testing, the results of which have created a solid foundation of evidence supporting the feasibility, safety and value of contact force sensing during catheter ablation.

In other financing activity:

• Health Care REIT (Toledo, Ohio) reported the pricing of its underwritten public offering of 8 million shares of common stock at $40.40 per share. The offering was increased in size from 5 million shares in response to investor demand. The company has granted the underwriters an option to purchase up to an additional 1.2 million shares during the next 30 days to cover over-allotments, if any.

The company estimates that the gross proceeds from this offering will be about $323.2 million (or nearly $371.7 million if the underwriters' over-allotment option is exercised in full).

The company said it intends to use the net proceeds from this offering to retire nearly $53.1 million of mortgages payable and to invest in additional healthcare and senior housing properties. Pending such use, the company intends to use the net proceeds to repay borrowings under its unsecured line of credit and other outstanding indebtedness. The offering is expected to close on Sept. 4, subject to customary closing conditions.

• NovaMed (Chicago) an operator of ambulatory surgery centers in partnership with physicians, said it has entered into an amendment to its credit agreement. The key terms of the amended credit agreement are as follows; $80 million senior secured credit facility consisting of a $50 million revolving credit facility; and a $30 million term loan facility.

NovaMed has an option to increase the size of the revolving credit facility to $95 million under certain conditions.

The term of the credit facility has been extended to Dec. 15, 2011. However, if NovaMed has repaid or refinanced its convertible senior subordinated notes prior to this date, the term will be extended to Aug. 30, 2012.

• Athena Feminine Technologies (Emeryville, California) reported that it has closed a $2 million Series A Preferred Stock investment from vSpring Capital (Salt Lake City).

"Athena is very excited to partner with vSpring Capital," said David Berryman, CEO of Athena. "This investment will allow us to greatly accelerate our sales and marketing efforts, which will allow us to help more women worldwide who suffer with incontinence."