A Medical Device Daily

Affymax (Palo Alto, California) said it has obtained a commitment from institutional investors to buy roughly $42 million of its common stock in a private placement.

Affymax will sell 2,844,708 newly issued shares of its common stock at a purchase price of $11.25 a share. The company also said it would sell 652,262 newly issued units at a purchase price of $15.33 a unit, with each unit consisting of one share of common stock and one warrant to purchase 0.65 of a share of common stock.

The warrants are immediately exercisable at $16.78 a share and will expire five years from the date of issuance, the company said.

The financing was led by ProQuest with participation by existing investors, Sprout Group and Bessemer Venture Partners, and new investor Biotechnology Value Fund. The net proceeds are expected to be about $41.6 million after offering expenses. This transaction is expected to close by March 2.

Affymax said it would provide additional details on the financial outlook for the organization in connection with the issuance of its 2009 financial guidance in its fourth quarter and year-end financial results release planned for March.

The Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse (PLSG), a life sciences seed and early-stage investor in western Pennsylvania, said it has surpassed the $13 million mark in committed investments. PLSG's $13.2 million in direct investments in nearly 60 companies has attracted over $400 million in additional capital for the region, the firm noted.

"Since hitting our $10 million investment milestone in the spring of 2008, we have continued to prime the commercialization pipeline and have made 25 additional investments, nine of which were in new companies," said President/CEO John Manzetti.

"As each of us is aware, the current business climate and funding market are very uncertain. Everywhere you look, read and listen there are warnings about the scarcity of capital and the continued downturn of the economy," he said. "Accordingly, we have made adjustments to our plan so that we can continue to evaluate, help develop and invest in additional promising life sciences innovations, while we help secure the sustainability of our existing portfolio companies."

The nine new company investments include: Biomed Research & Technologies; Blacktown NC; Caliber InfoSolutions; Chronic Health Metrics; Circadiance; Complexa; Flexicath; NeuroInterventional Therapeutics; and Wright Therapy Products.

Biomed Research & Technologies is a therapeutic company developing products based on its proprietary pro-lipid technology. Pro-lipid technology is designed to stimulate the body's own skin cells to produce the full complement of skin lipids necessary to maintain the optimum barrier function of the skin. The company's products are being developed for the OTC and Rx skin care markets. According to the company, the pro-lipid technology helps improve barrier functions in a number of places including the oral cavity and bladder.

Blacktown NC is a spinal disorder treatment company in Mercer County developing rehabilitation solutions through medical devices. The Accelerated Flexion/Extension Table/Therapy (AFXT) is a computer controlled rehabilitation table that will make a revolutionary difference in management of lower back pain by combining physical therapies with the latest robotic control methods into a new therapeutic approach. AFXT is in clinical trials at Cleveland Clinic for FDA approval.

Caliber InfoSolutions is a healthcare information technology company featuring CaliberLIMS. It was designed using web technologies to help pharmaceutical and biotech companies comply with international regulatory norms like FDA 21CFR PART 11, GLP, GAMP, etc. According to the company, CaliberLIMS ensures regulatory compliance and increases quality output in the laboratory. About 90% of the current user companies are FDA certified pharmaceutical companies and CaliberLIMS has successfully passed through the FDA audits.

Chronic Health Metrics is a disease management company specializing in the application of statistical monitoring tools for the management of patients with serious mental illnesses. The company's core product, CHTrac_1, is used as a monitoring and crisis alert service for managing the risk of relapse in 3 million patients with schizophrenia. Clinical trials are underway in Erie, Pennsylvania.

Circadiance is a medical device company that has developed a new cloth mask for use with commercial CPAP devices for treating obstructive sleep apnea. According to the company, this mask naturally contours to the face, is soft and pliable, and is extremely comfortable, for more restful sleep.

Complexa is a biopharmaceutical company developing a new class of drug molecules to address conditions characterized by underlying inflammation and dysregulation of metabolism. Its lead program targets Type 2 diabetes with the potential to expand indications into the treatment of multiple aspects of dysmetabolic syndrome.

Flexicath is a medical device company that has a finalized product, FDA approval and is now launching sales in U.S. and global markets. Flexicath makes sterile catheter insertion systems designed to address catheter related blood stream infection control issues. The company's first product, the FirmGrip system, is a soft, mini-midline catheter maintained in a complete sterile field to help prevent contamination during insertion – potentially removing the need for an external sterile field (draping) — with Flexicath features to facilitate the insertion procedure.

NeuroInterventional Therapeutics is a medical device company that makes advanced systems to dissolve, remove, and/or find, trap and extract blood clots in a wide range of cerebral vessels, and where necessary deliver therapeutics to the diseased site after clot removal. Its catheters can enable physicians to extend the applicability of interventional procedures to a wide variety of clinical conditions, the company noted.

Wright Therapy Products makes a full line of products to treat edema and circulatory disorders. Its prime products are compression therapy devices and the patient interface garments that are integral to the system.

To date, PLSG has invested $13.2 million directly into 57 companies to help leverage over $400 million in additional capital.

In other financing news:

• Phreesia (New York), which refers to itself as the Patient Check-In Company, reported the close of an $11.6 million investment, bringing total investment to date to $25 million. BlueCross BlueShield Venture Partners, a corporate venture fund of the BlueCross BlueShield Association, and Sandbox Industries led the round, joining existing investors Polaris Venture Partners, HLM Venture Partners, and Long River Ventures.

As part of the investment, Paul Brown, managing director of BlueCross BlueShield Ventures and Matthew Downs, managing partner of Sandbox Industries will join the Phreesia board of directors.

Phreesia automates patient check-in and delivers fully interactive content direct-to-patients, designed to interface with physicians' existing and future technology. Replacing the traditional patient clipboard with a free wireless touch screen and swipe-card enabled PhreesiaPad significantly improves the patient check-in experience, the company said.

• Span-America Medical Systems (Greenville, South Carolina) reported that its board authorized the repurchase of 100,000 shares of company common stock.

The share authorization extends the program reported in November 2007 that approved the repurchase of 5% of the company's outstanding stock. To date, Span-America has repurchased 93,430 shares of the 138,772 shares authorized under the original plan.

Span-America makes pressure management products for the medical market, including Geo-Matt, PressureGuard, Geo-Mattress, Span+Aids, Isch-Dish, and Selan products.