A Medical Device Daily

Patient Safety Technologies (PST; Temecula, California) reported that it has closed on $2.325 million in equity financing in a first closing of a private placement. The proceeds will go toward enhancing sales and marketing at its SurgiCount Medical (SM; also Temecula) subsidiary.

Investors in the first closing of the private placement purchased 1,860,000 shares of the company's common stock at a price of $1.25 a share and received a 5-year warrant to purchase an additional 1,162,500 shares at an exercise price of $1.40 a share.

The investors paid $2.325 million in cash. Under the terms of the placement, PST may sell up to an aggregate of $2.5 million worth of common stock and warrants no later than Aug. 31. The company has agreed to register for resale the shares of common stock sold in the offering.

"Consistent with our previously disclosed growth plans, this private placement provides the company with the extra capital necessary to expand our sales force to service and develop new and emerging markets," said Patient Safety Technologies CEO Bill Adams. "The company continues to add new healthcare facilities to its growing list of customers and the need for a physical presence in these areas is necessary to keep up with the demand."

Adams added that this announcement is neither an offer to sell nor a solicitation of an offer to buy any of these securities and shall not constitute an offer, solicitation or sale in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale is unlawful."

SurgiCount Medical manufactures the SurgiCount Safety-Sponge System, an FDA 510(k)-approved turnkey solution to retain surgical sponges. The system is comprised of surgical sponges and towels affixed with an inseparable 2-D data matrix bar code and a SurgiCounter scanner to record each sponge before and after an operation.

LifeModeler (San Clemente, California), a provider of biomechanical human body simulation tools and services, has concluded an initial round of outside financing, according to Shawn McGuan, CEO. McGuan said the multi-million dollar private offering was oversubscribed within weeks.

The company, established in 2002, provides software that allows product designers to perform "virtual prototyping" — essentially evaluating new product concepts in a validated, computer model of a human body — prior to undertaking expensive physical prototype development.

Its LifeMOD human simulation tool is used extensively in the orthopedic joint replacement community, and in automotive, aerospace, and sporting goods applications.

"Our ability to quickly raise capital has been very gratifying, and it underscores our belief that the future for this type of product development is the most efficient for many business categories," said McGuan.

Among the investors attracted to the LifeModeler financing was Huntington Capital (San Diego), which operates a debt and equity fund providing growth capital to the lower middle market in California and the southwestern U.S.

According to McGuan, the expansion of the existing LifeMOD human body simulation components, which include its flagship product, LifeMOD, as well as niche products KneeSIM, LumbarSIM and NeckSIM, will involve the engineering staff in work pertaining to other body parts as well as broadening involvement in other industries.

While the core business opportunities for LifeModeler have been concentrated in the orthopedics community, the company also sells products to NASA, helping to measure potential stresses applied to astronaut actions in outer space, and has worked with sporting goods companies and various automotive and motorcycle brands.

"We're poised to generate new applications for existing LifeMOD capabilities and we view the potential for integrating our unique methodologies into other areas as almost endless," McGuan said.