A Medical Device Daily

Bridge Investment Fund LP (Cleveland, Ohio/Tel Aviv) reported its participation in a $3.5 million series B financing round in Arbel Medical (Yokneam, Israel).

The investment round was led by Giza Venture Capital and joined by Ofer Hi-Tech, two of Israel's leading venture capital firms.

Arbel is developing minimally invasive cryotherapy products with applications in women's health, with an initial use in treating benign breast tumors. Arbel's first product version was cleared by the FDA for marketing last year.

Didier Toubia, CEO of Arbel, said, "Bridge, and its Cleveland partners, BioEnterprise, the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals, will provide the critical clinical and market entry expertise as Arbel markets its cryoablation technology to patients in the United States."

Bridge Investment Fund's Managing Partner, Michael Goldberg, said, "Arbel Medical has excellent synergies with the medical institutions in Cleveland. The Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals are world leaders in the areas of cancer treatment and research. We look forward to working with Arbel Medical to develop relationships with these institutions and others and as they introduce their products to the American market."

In other financing news:

• MyriadHealth (Cleveland), an internet software and services claims developer, reported $1.5 million in new funding.

The Innovation Ohio Fund — approved by the Development Financing Advisory Council on March 31 and pending approval of the State Controlling Board — led the round with a $750,000 investment, matched by angel investors.

The company said the money will be used for real-time integration of Provider Electronic Medical Records with Practice Management Systems.

Pamela Priddy, president/CEO of MyriadHealth, said the funds will "move our technology forward, not only on a local level but nationally also."

The MyriadHealth system is a web-based, real time claims management platform, used by third party administrators and self-administered health plans, to integrate the claims adjudication process from the point of care through payment.

MyriadHealth said its platform can plug into the claims process, regardless of the level of front-end or back-end integration and still deliver value to TPAs and other administrators. The system can be invisible to physicians and payors. It is currently working in a number of real-world healthcare claims environments.

MyriadHealth, established in 2003, focuses on internet delivery of software and services to healthcare claims administrators.

• Graymark Healthcare (Oklahoma City), a medical holding company, reported that its 1-for-5 split of the company's common stock took effect Friday, and that its stock symbol has changed from GRMK to GRMH.

Graymark reported last month that its board had approved the split (Medical Device Daily, March 18, 2008).

The reverse split will reduce the number of shares of Graymark's common stock outstanding from about 117.7 million to roughly 23.5 million, the company said. Graymark stockholders received one new share for every five shares held.

Graymark owns and operates pharmacies, diagnostic sleep centers and a medical equipment company.

• Hercules Technology Growth Capital (Palo Alto, California), a provider of venture debt and equity to technology and life science companies, reported that it will receive repayment of principal on the company's debt financing to Diomed Holdings (Andover, Massachusetts), currently in Chapter 11 reorganization.

Diomed recently reported a settlement with AngioDynamics (Queensbury, New York) resolving a patent infringement lawsuit between the companies (Medical Device Daily, April 4, 2008). As a result of the settlement over varicose vein laser treatment technology, AngioDynamics agreed to pay Diomed $7 million, $6 million to repay the outstanding loan principal balance to Hercules in accordance with a settlement order approved by a bankruptcy court.

Additionally, Vascular Solutions (Minneapolis) reported entering a separate agreement with Diomed to resolve a patent infringement lawsuit between the companies. In accordance with that agreement, all claims and appeals by each side will be dismissed following a one-time payment of $3.586 million from Vascular Solutions to Diomed.