A Medical Device Daily

Semprus BioSciences (Cambridge, Massachusetts), a private biomedical company, said it has secured $8 million in Series A financing co-led by 5AM Ventures and Pangaea Ventures. Semprus' technology platform is aimed at reducing medical device complications in areas of infections, thrombus, restenosis and bone integration. The company had previously raised $2.5 million in seed financing from private investors and 5AM Ventures.

The Semprus platform adds a permanent, non-leaching surface architecture to medical devices, providing long-term antimicrobial and anti-thrombogenic solutions. The versatility of the platform enables it to work with medical device surfaces ranging from plastics (such as catheters) to metals (such as orthopedic implants), the company said. The proceeds of this financing will be used to advance its product candidates.

"Patients suffer and the cost to hospitals and insurers is escalating due to a dramatic increase in infections and other preventable events. Our aim is to alleviate this pain by becoming the industry standard for reducing complications and healthcare costs associated with medical devices," said David Lucchino, CEO/co-founder of Semprus. "Our investors continue to recognize the significant value that we are building by providing a solution for the delivery of high quality and efficient healthcare."

Semprus, originally incorporated as SteriCoat, got its start by winning entrepreneurial competitions at MIT, Harvard, Oxford and Cambridge universities in 2006. In addition to Lucchino, the other founders are Dr. Robert Langer, an MIT Institute professor, CTO Dr. Chris Loose, and Dr. Gregory Stephanopoulos, Bayer Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT.

In other financing activity, Healionics (Redmond, Washington), a provider of tissue regeneration and device bio-integration solutions to healthcare manufacturers, reported raising $2.6 million in a Series B financing from private investors. The financing includes funding from several angel networks including Bellingham Angels, Alliance of Angels, Keiretsu, Tacoma Angel Network and Zino Society.

Healionics describes its flagship Sphere Templated Angiogenic Regeneration (STAR) biomaterial scaffold as a next-generation biomaterial scaffold designed to enhance biointegration and promote healing of implanted medical devices.

"This financing reflects the great progress Healionics has made over the past year, including doubling the number of research agreements for our STAR biomaterial and consistently achieving corporate milestones such as scaling up manufacturing processes, accelerating preclinical studies and advancing business development activities," said CEO Robert Brown. "We are pleased to receive such support in this current economic climate."

He added, "These funds will enable the company to continue to make significant progress in achieving key milestones, including additional preclinical studies and development of a degradable form of STAR material that will provide further evidence of the efficacy and versatility of STAR biomaterial."

Healionics closed a Series A financing for $1.7 million earlier this year. The company says it has secured 14 commercial research agreements to date to evaluate STAR biomaterial in multiple market applications including human aesthetics, obesity, diabetes, wound care, and infusion devices.

The company recently entered into a multi-million dollar manufacturing, supply and distribution agreement with TR BioSurgical for use of STAR biomaterial in a veterinary glaucoma implant, which is planned for limited market launch in 1Q09.