A Medical Device Daily

Isis Pharmaceuticals (Carlsbad, California) reported that Abbott Laboratories (Abbott Park, Illinois) has invested an additional $20 million in Ibis Biosciences, an Isis subsidiary. The investment will allow Ibis to further develop the Ibis T5000 Biosensor System, which offers a solution for rapid identification and characterization of infectious agents.

By making this investment, Abbott retains the exclusive option to purchase the remaining equity in Ibis for an additional $175 million to $190 million through June 30, 2009, depending on whether certain pre-negotiated milestones have been completed.

If Abbott acquires Ibis, in addition to the purchase price for Ibis' equity, Isis will receive an earnout tied to the achievement of certain cumulative sales.

Including this investment, Abbott has invested $40 million in Ibis and holds 18.6% of the equity in Ibis. The remaining Ibis equity is owned by Isis.

"We are aggressively accelerating the expansion of our commercial products into larger market opportunities, and this recent financing from Abbott will provide the capital to continue on this path," said Michael Treble, president of Ibis. "In just a few short months, we have made significant progress toward completing milestones identified by Abbott and Ibis that will increase the value of Ibis and move us forward toward clinical diagnostics."

In other financing news:

• NexMed (East Windsor, New Jersey), a developer of transdermal products based on the NexACT drug delivery technology, reported that it raised $5.75 million in gross proceeds from the issuance of new convertible notes due Dec. 31, 2011, which are secured by a mortgage on NexMed's manufacturing facility in East Windsor.

The notes were purchased by accounts managed by Tail Wind Advisory and Management Ltd., which is authorized and regulated by the Financial Services Authority of Great Britain. The Tail Wind Fund Ltd., a long-term investor in NexMed, was one of two purchasers of the issue.

The notes are convertible into shares of NexMed common stock, with $4.75 million convertible at $2 per share on or before the due date and $1 million convertible at $1.75 per share on or before Dec. 31. The notes have a coupon rate of 7% per annum which is payable at NexMed's option, in cash or with certain exceptions, in shares of NexMed common stock at a price of 95% of a five-day weighted average of the market price of its common stock prior to the time of payment.

The company said it has used the proceeds to pay off in full the $3 million in debt outstanding and has earmarked the balance for working capital and general corporate purposes.

• Biomet (Warsaw, Indiana) reported the completion of exchange offers for all of its outstanding 10% senior notes due 2017, 103/8%/111/8% senior toggle notes due 2017 and 115/8% senior subordinated notes due 2017, which are not registered under the Securities Act of 1933 for an equal principal amount of its 10% senior notes due 2017, 103/8%/111/8% senior toggle notes due 2017 and 115/8% senior subordinated notes due 2017, respectively, which have been registered under the Securities Act of 1933.

The exchange offers expired at 5:00 p.m., EST, on June 26.

$775 million of the $775 million aggregate principal amount of the 10% senior notes due 2017, $774,999,500 of the $775 million aggregate principal amount of the 103/8%/111/8% senior toggle notes due 2017 and $1,014,999,500 of the $1,015,000,000 aggregate principal amount of the 11-?% senior subordinated notes due 2017, were tendered and accepted for exchange. The exchange offers closed on June 30, 2008.

Biomet and its subsidiaries make products used primarily by musculoskeletal medical specialists in both surgical and non-surgical therapy.

• Health Care REIT (Toledo, Ohio) reported the pricing of its underwritten public offering of 4 million shares.

The last reported sale of its common stock on the New York Stock Exchange on June 30 was $44.50.

The company has granted the underwriter a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 600,000 shares to cover any over-allotments.

The company said it intends to use the net proceeds from this offering to invest in additional healthcare and senior housing properties. Pending such use, the company intends to use the net proceeds to repay borrowings under its unsecured line of credit. The offering is expected to close on July 7, subject to customary closing conditions.

UBS Investment Bank is the underwriter for the offering.

Health Care REIT is an equity real estate investment trust that invests across the full spectrum of senior housing and healthcare real estate, including independent living/continuing care retirement communities, assisted living facilities, skilled nursing facilities, hospitals, long-term acute care hospitals and medical office buildings.