A Diagnostics & Imaging Week

Life Science Intelligence (LSI; Huntington Beach, California) reported that another new group of 22 mostly private med-tech companies have recently been added to the Emerging Medical Technologies (EMT) Database.

According to LSI, the latest round of companies is collectively seeking $156 million ($1 million seed, $25 million Series B, $39.5 million Series C, $25 million series E, $20.5 million Series F, and $44.75 million undisclosed). Many of the companies are also actively pursuing strategic partnerships and licensing deals with larger companies, LSI noted.

LSI's EMT Database provides medical technology executives and venture capitalists with a searchable online resource allowing them to discover, partner, and capitalize on opportunities in emerging med-tech start-up companies. Most of the companies in the database include executive summaries and presentations.

Start-ups in the EMT Database represent many market segments, including aesthetics, biomaterials, biotechnology, cardiovascular, cell therapy, dental, dermatology, diagnostics, drug delivery, endocrine, gastroenterology, gynecology, imaging, men's health, neurology, oncology, ophthalmology, orthopedics, pain management, patient monitoring, respiratory, spine, surgery, urology, vascular, women's health, and wound management.

LSI delivers market data and information to medical technology executives, entrepreneurs, and investors. LSI produces the EMT Database, med-tech market reports, and provides global custom research services, including market assessments and physician surveys.

In other financing activity:

• U.S. Genomics (Woburn, Massachusetts) reported that it has received a $4.5 million equity investment from BD (Becton, Dickinson and Co.; Franklin Lakes, New Jersey) and that the companies have entered into a strategic collaboration for development of a novel infectious disease diagnostic platform. The collaboration will focus on application of U.S. Genomics' DirectLinear Analysis technology (DLA) for the detection of a wide range of infectious organisms in a single molecular diagnostic test.

The companies said that a diagnostic platform based on DLA has the potential to provide information to physicians concerning pathogen identity, virulence and drug resistance within hours, as opposed to the multi-day techniques such as culturing, plating, and staining that are done today.

U.S. Genomics has invested in excess of $50 million in DLA technology, which integrates novel labeling strategies, advanced microfluidics and optical engineering to enable pathogens to be identified by rapidly analyzing individual DNA molecules present in a clinical sample. The company said the technology is capable of simultaneously detecting a broad range of infectious organisms in a single diagnostic test. The companies believe that a diagnostic test based on DLA has the potential to provide clinicians and doctors' information important for patient health, such as which drugs a specific pathogen may be resistant to, and which drugs could be used for most effective patient treatment.

DLA technology, developed with support from venture capital investors, NSF, DARPA, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, also has the potential to be applied in applications such as patient screening, hospital monitoring, epidemiology and forensics.

U.S. Genomics is developing single molecule biology technologies for diagnostics and biodefense applications.

• Signalife (Los Angeles) reported that the company's previously-disclosed reverse stock split has been effected as of Sept. 19, following the close of the OTCBB market.

The exact reverse ratio, based upon a post-split target price of $45 per share based upon the closing price for Signalife's common stock as quoted by the OTCBB on Sept. 19, is one-for-4,500. Fractional shares will be rounded up to the next full share. Post-split quotations and trades of Signalife common shares commenced on the OTCBB upon the opening of the market on Monday under the new symbol SGAL.

The reverse stock split has been structured in the form of a mandatory share exchange, meaning that each shareholder will be required to first exchange his or her certificate with the company's stock transfer agent in order to change title incident to any sale or other transaction.

Signalife is a life sciences company focused on the monitoring, detection and prevention of disease through continuous biomedical signal monitoring. It uses its technology to design and develop devices, therapies and/or technologies that simplify and reduce the costs of cardiovascular disease.