A Medical Device Daily

Electro-Optical Sciences (EOS; Irvington, New York) said it has entered a committed equity financing facility (CEFF) with Kingsbridge Capital, a private investment group, in which Kingsbridge has committed to provide, at the company's sole discretion, up to $45 million in cash during the next three years, through the purchase of newly-issued shares of EOS common stock.

"This financing facility provides us great flexibility in choosing if, and when, to access funds, thereby minimizing shareholder dilution. We view this as an important secondary source of capital to that of more traditional equity financings," said Joseph Gulfo, MD, president/CEO of Electro-Optical Sciences. "The funds are available to us as we proceed through the regulatory pathway and commercialization process for MelaFind, our non-invasive, point of care, computerized system for early melanoma detection."

EOS is not obligated to use any of the $45 million available under the CEFF and there are no minimum commitments or minimum use penalties. EOS has access, at its discretion, to the funds through the sale of newly-issued shares of EOS' common stock. The funds that can be raised under the CEFF over the three-year term will depend on the then-current price for EOS' stock, for the number of shares actually sold may not exceed 19.99% of the company's shares outstanding.

In connection with the CEFF, the company issued a warrant to Kingsbridge to purchase 200,000 shares of common stock at $11.35 a share, representing a 50% premium to the average closing price of the EOS' common stock for the five days preceding the signing of the CEFF agreement.

The company may access capital under the CEFF by providing Kingsbridge with common stock at discounts ranging from 6% to 10%, depending on the average market price of EOS' common stock during the applicable pricing period. The CEFF does not impose any material restrictions on EOS' operating or financial activities, the company noted.

EOS is focused on designing and developing a non-invasive, point-of-care instrument to assist in the early detection of melanoma. MelaFind features a hand-held imaging device that emits light of multiple wavelengths to capture images of suspicious pigmented skin lesions and extract data. Using algorithms, the data are then analyzed against a database of melanomas and benign lesions in order to provide the clinician with clear and objective information.

In other financing activity:

• Nanosys (Palo Alto, California) and QuantuMDx Group (QMDx; London) reported that QMDx has signed a non-exclusive license agreement with Nanosys for several patents and patent applications related to the use of nanowires for biosensors.

The core intellectual property involves the use of nanowire-based field effect transistors (FETs) as biosensors, which were derived from the work of Dr. Charles Lieber, a professor of chemistry at Harvard, a pioneer in nanotechnology, and one of the founders of Nanosys.

QMDx has secured worldwide rights for the use of nanowires for DNA sequencing and detecting biomarkers associated with disease. In exchange, Nanosys has received an upfront license fee and downstream royalty payments. No other financial details of the deal were disclosed.

While Nanosys owns an extensive IP portfolio around multiple aspects of nanotechnology including nanowire compositions, nanowire synthesis and the use of nanowires and other nanostructures for diverse applications, QMDx will bring its molecular biology and microfluidic technologies to bear on using nanowire based FETs as highly responsive sensors of biomolecules. According to the company, the power of Lieber's technology is that it permits accurate diagnosis and quantification of multiple biomarkers using a small biosensor that lends itself to 'Palm Top' diagnostic devices.

QMDx plans to manufacture and sell devices that are formatted to provide fast, accurate and cost effective point-of-care diagnosis of disease. Furthermore, QMDx plans to develop its DNA sequencing technology with its nanowire biosensors, to enter the genome sequencing market and pioneer the handheld sequencing market.

Nanosys develops nanotechnology-enabled products using high performance inorganic nanostructures.

QMDx Group is developing handheld diagnostic and sequencing technologies based around a nanowire biosensor and innovative microfluidics.

• Battelle (Columbus, Ohio) said it has licensed its Opt-EFX electrohydrodynamic (EHD) technology for inhalation drug delivery applications to the Incubation Factory (St. Louis), a market accelerator focused on creating and growing high potential companies based on breakthrough technologies. The licensing of this Opt-EFX technology for inhalation drug delivery represents the commercialization of a Battelle innovation in healthcare, the company said.

The Incubation Factory has the right to commercialize products based on Battelle's Opt-EFX technology for inhalation drug delivery. This agreement is in addition to a recently announced agreement in which The Incubation Factory was granted the right to commercialize Battelle's Opt-EFX technology in a broad range of applications and market verticals, most notably consumer home fragrance.

Battelle's Opt-EFX technology, based on EHD, converts electrical energy into kinetic energy as the material is emitted from a nozzle. It produces, in the case of this license, Optimist aerosols.