Artes says it is 'realigning' costs

Artes Medical (San Diego), maker of Artefill, an injectable dermal filler for the correction of facial wrinkles, reported this week that it is reducing its administrative and operating costs "to re-align the company's overall cost structure to the revenue guidance it provided in March 2008, of $13 million to $16 million for 2008."

Christopher Reinhard, executive chairman of the board, said that the cost reduction "will enable us to re-align our financial resources with our projected range of 2008 revenues and to more sharply focus on growing and developing the market for ArteFill. We believe that our existing funds, together with the proceeds from sales of ArteFill, will be sufficient to meet our anticipated cash requirements through the first quarter of 2009."

Artes, Reinhard said, is "intensifying" its work "to acquire or in-license other complementary products and to partner with or acquire companies with products and technologies in the consumer and aesthetic market."

In its statement, Artes said it is continuing to "optimize" its newly expanded sales and marketing activities to support the U.S. market launch of ArteFill and that it is continuing to seek partnerships regarding "its highly purified collagen and biomaterial manufacturing capabilities."

Diane SGoostree, president/CEO of the company, said, "We believe that these activities would enable us to better leverage our expanded sales force, our strong relationships with physician customers, and provide synergies with our e-marketing activities and consumer initiatives, thereby positioning the Company for accelerated revenue growth."

Artes says that ArteFill is "the first and only FDA-approved non-resorbable injectable dermal filler for the correction of wrinkles known as smile lines or nasolabial folds." It says that its microspheres "are not absorbed by the body and therefore provide the first-of-its-kind permanent support for long-lasting wrinkle correction in one to two treatments.

ArteFill was approved by the FDA in October 2006.

SPO Medical retains American Capital

SPO Medical (New York) said that it has retained the services of American Capital Ventures (ACV), a provider of comprehensive investor relations services to the small cap community, as an investor relations consultant.

Michael Braunold, president/CEO of SPO Medical said, "As we continue to grow our revenues and enhance our distribution base, it has become increasingly important to reach out to the investment community. Our goal is to inform current and prospective investors of our financial prospects and the value proposition offered by our product pipeline and strategy."

SPO Medical makes biosensor and microprocessor technologies for use in portable monitoring devices.

BioForce Nanosciences added to Ludlow Index

BioForce Nanosciences Holdings (Ames, Iowa) said that the company has been added as a component of the Ludlow Biotech Index.

Kerry Frey, president/CEO of BioForce Nanosciences, said, "We are thrilled to have been added to the Ludlow Biotech Index as it adds to our growing credibility as a provider of integrated biological and mechanical systems at the micro and nano levels. Being part of an index that includes such biotech heavyweights as Affymetrix, Amgen, Biogen Idec, Genentech, Genzyme and Millennium Pharmaceuticals is a tribute to our engineers and to our developing salesforce, and I want to take this opportunity to thank them for their efforts. We expect this to be a harbinger of things to come in 2008."

The Ludlow Biotech Index tracks a basket of top U.S. traded biotechnology stocks. The index provides both institutional and individual investors a gauge for tracking the day-to-day performance of the biotechnology sector. BioForce Nanosciences integrates biological and mechanical systems at the micro and nano scales.

TandemHeart placed in five new centers

CardiacAssist (Pittsburgh) said that it has placed the TandemHeart system at five new medical centers. More than 100 hospitals use the TandemHeart in the cath lab and/or operating room for extracorporeal circulatory support.

The TandemHeart provides extracorporeal circulatory support through a percutaneous cardiac catheterization procedure or direct surgical placement in as little as 30 minutes. The resulting increase in blood flow is up to five liters per minute percutaneously or 8 LPM via surgical cannulation.

"We're pleased to have such prestigious cardiac care facilities join our centers of excellence that are now using the TandemHeart System," said Michael Garippa, president/CEO of CardiacAssist. "The adoption rate for this technology continues to increase, and our commercial experience with the TandemHeart is on the way to 2,000 cases."