A Medical Device Daily

Lutonix (Minneapolis) reported the close of a $20 million Series B financing.

Co-founded in July 2007 by Dennis Wahr, MD, and Lixiao Wang, PhD, Lutonix is focused on the development of drug-coated balloon angioplasty technology for the treatment and prevention of coronary and peripheral artery stenosis caused by atherosclerosis.

Lutonix's technology is anticipated to enhance therapeutic options for patients who are candidates for conventional therapies such as balloon angioplasty and stents and for those who are no longer likely to benefit from those treatments.

The company said it will use the new capital for continued product development activities and to fund the company's initial human clinical trials.

The round was led by Versant Ventures and was joined by new investor Delphi Ventures. Also participating in this round were both Series A investors, U.S. Venture Partners and founding venture firm RiverVest Venture Partners.

In conjunction with the financing, Kevin Wasserstein, managing director of Versant Ventures, and John Maroney, managing director of Delphi Ventures, have been added to the company's board.

HLTH (Elmwood Park, New Jersey) reported that it has commenced its tender offer to purchase up to 80 million shares of its common stock at a price of $8.80 per share. The number of shares proposed to be purchased in the tender offer represents about 43% of HLTH's currently outstanding shares.

The last reported sales price per share of HLTH common stock was $8.06 per share on Oct. 24.

The tender offer will expire on Nov. 25, unless extended by HLTH.

If stockholders properly tender more than 80 million shares, HLTH will purchase shares tendered by those stockholders owning fewer than 100 shares, without pro ration, and all other shares tendered will be purchased on a pro rata basis.

Currently, HLTH has about $1.3 billion in cash and investments, excluding about $340 million in cash and investments held by its WebMD Health subsidiary. HLTH will use a portion of its cash and investments to fund the tender offer.

The dealer manager for the tender offer is Citi. The information agent is Innisfree M&A. The depositary is American Stock Transfer & Trust Co.

In other financing news, Anthem Blue Cross (Woodland Hill, California) and La Maestra Community Health Centers (San Diego) reported that they have successfully completed the underwriting of an $18.5 million bond initiative to support the construction of La Maestra's new 34,660-square-foot "green" healthcare center.

When completed, it will house more than 200 staff members and support more than 100,000 patient visits annually in the City Heights neighborhood of San Diego.

Bond financing was made possible via the Anthem Blue Cross "Investment in a Healthy California Program."

As part of their 2004 merger, Anthem Blue Cross, Anthem Blue Cross Life and Health, and Golden West Dental & Vision maintain a $200 million investment portfolio to provide investment capital to healthcare providers serving low-income urban and rural California communities.

"We are very pleased this bond underwriting has been completed," said La Maestra CEO Zara Marselian. "The favorable long-term financing will allow us to construct our new healthcare center while we continue our fundraising efforts through our Heart of the Community capital campaign."