A Medical Device Daily

Pathway Medical Technologies (Kirkland, Washington), a developer of endovascular treatments for peripheral arterial disease (PAD), said it has secured a $40 million Series D round of financing. The company said that the round includes participation from Forbion Capital Partners, HLM Venture Partners, Latterell Venture Partners, Oxford Bioscience Partners, Giza Venture Capital and individual investors.

"The environment for raising financing today is extremely challenging, especially for venture capital, and it's been reported that only 11% of all medical device venture capital financings have been more than $25 million since the end of 2007," said Paul Buckman, president/CEO of Pathway. He called the financing "a positive endorsement of Pathway's technology and, more importantly, our strong team of people. In the last year, Pathway has made incredible strides transforming the paradigm of PAD treatment . . . ."

The company says that its Pathway Jetstream G2, cleared by the FDA this year, is a peripheral revascularization catheter designed to remove all types of artery-clogging plaque, from calcium to thrombus. Jetstream G2 offers design enhancements to Pathway's first-generation device launched in September 2008, it noted. The product just received an additional indication for the removal of thrombus, creating new options.

This solution "clears blockages in the peripheral vasculature, restores blood flow and effectively treats PAD," Pathway said.

"We have seen significant momentum from Pathway since Jetstream went to market in late 2008, and we are committed to being part of the company's success moving forward," said Martien van Osch, managing partner at Forbion Capital Partners. "Forbion has seen first hand the strong market acceptance of Jetstream in just the first few months since FDA clearance, and we believe that this technology will have a positive impact on treatment options for patients with PAD in the U.S. and Europe."

Pathway said it plans to use the new funding to build its sales team, grow its manufacturing organization, continue product development and prepare for profitability.

In other financing activity: Neovasc (Vancouver) said it intends to undertake a non-brokered private placement of roughly 9.52 million units, at 21 cents a unit, for gross proceeds of $2 million.

It said the proceeds will be used for development of a suite of new products and to fund continuing operations. Completion of the placement is subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval and definitive documentation with investors. The securities will be subject to a four-month hold period from the date of issuance. Members of the Frost Group are leading the private placement.

Each unit consists of one common share of Neovasc stock and one-half of one common share purchase warrant of Neovasc stock. Each whole warrant will entitle the holder to purchase one common share of Neovasc stock at 30 cents a share, for a period of one year after the closing date of the offering. All proceeds will be placed with company insiders.

Neovasc makes vascular and surgical products, including the Metricath device for intravascular measurement, and Peripatch surgical tissue and staple line reinforcement products. Neovasc says it has new products in development and that it provides manufacturing services for medical device developers.