A Medical Device Daily

Cianna Medical (Aliso Viejo, California) reported that it has completed an initial funding round totaling $9 million.

The Series A funding will be used to support further commercialization of the company’s SAVI technology for breast brachytherapy.

Participating in the funding round were initial investors in Cianna (formerly known as BioLucent), including Fog City Fund, Windamere Venture Partners, and several private individuals.

This is the first financing round since Cianna Medical was created as a spinout from BioLucent last September (Medical Device Daily, Sept. 21, 2007). Cianna was created concurrent with the sale of BioLucent’s (Bedford, Massachusetts) MammoPad breast cushion business to Hologic (also Bedford).

The SAVI applicator provides a shortened course of high-dose radiation therapy for early-stage breast cancer patients following lumpectomy surgery. With this treatment, known as accelerated partial breast irradiation radiation is delivered from within the breast and targets the area where the cancer is most likely to recur. This approach reduces treatment time from six or seven weeks — which is generally required with conventional whole-breast irradiation — to just five days, according to the company.

The company said the device allows physicians to precisely target radiation to the area that needs it most, minimizing exposure to healthy tissue. The company claims that the SAVI is the only APBI applicator that can contour the radiation dose to the size and shape of the cavity bed.

Adnavance Technologies (Vancouver, British Columbia) a developer of new direct detection molecular diagnostic tests for medical applications, reported that it completed a Series B financing totaling C$3.7 million ($3.78 million).

The proceeds will fund continued development and expansion of the company’s metalized-DNA (M-DNA) technology. The company also reported that V. Randy White, PhD, joined the company as the new CEO.

The financing was led by Working Opportunity Fund, managed by GrowthWorks Capital, JovInvestment Management, and Business Development Bank of Canada.

“We expect that our patented direct detection molecular diagnostic technology will serve to decentralize the worldwide molecular testing market by enabling hospitals and smaller independent laboratories to conduct their own testing, reducing healthcare costs and enabling patients to be evaluated and treated at their point of care,” said White. “Our technology is sensitive enough to directly detect DNA targets in human samples using a small, fully automated desktop device.”

Adnavance said it believes that M-DNA direct detection technology may eliminate the need for target amplification for a large number of molecular diagnostic tests.

The company is initially developing an M-DNA molecular diagnostic kit targeting MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staph aureus), which it expects to launch as early as 2010.

In other financing news:

• NanoImaging Services (San Diego), a provider of high-resolution, 3-D transmission electron microscope (TEM) imaging services to manufacturers of large molecule biopharmaceuticals, reported that it has completed a round of financing led by Merck Capital Ventures. The $1.5 million investment will be used to expand the company’s service laboratory.

NanoImaging Services, currently located in northern San Diego, also said it will relocate to a larger facility in nearby La Jolla next month.

The company offers a range of services including simple visual inspection; statistical characterization; antibody/labeling experiments; and nanometer-scale, 3-D reconstruction to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and nanotechnology industries,

• Portico Systems (Philadelphia), a provider network management solutions company, said it raised $7.7 million in a Series B financing, with investments from Edison Ventures Fund and Safeguard Scientifics.

Edison led the round, with a $4.9 million investment. Doug Petillo, a partner with Edison, will join Portico’s board. Safeguard invested $2.8 million as a follow on to their initial investment which led the company’s initial $6 million round of funding in 2006.

Portico’s software, which was commercially launched in late 2004, is already used by five of the country’s top health plans to improve internal operations and increase efficiencies, according to the company. It automates and manages the critical business processes that lie at the heart of high-performance provider networks: contracting with and enrolling new physicians, servicing them, and streamlining payment and other claims.

• Omnicell (Mountain View, California), a provider of system solutions to acute healthcare facilities, reported that its board has approved the repurchase of up to $40 million of its common stock over the next 12 months.

The board said it decided to pursue this course of action after a review of its financial position and investment alternatives. The company expects the stock repurchase program to be accretive to earnings.

Omnicell’s medication-use product line includes solutions for the central pharmacy, nursing unit, operating room, and patient bedside. From the point at which a medication arrives at the receiving dock to the time it is administered, Omnicell systems store it, package it, bar code it, order it, issue it, and provide information and controls on its use and reorder.

• I-Flow (Lake Forest, California) reported that its board of has authorized the repurchase of up to one million shares of the company’s common stock. The shares may be repurchased in open market or privately negotiated transactions in the discretion of management, subject to its assessment of market conditions and other factors.

The stock repurchase program may begin immediately and extends for the next 12 months, unless the program is terminated sooner by the board. This repurchase program supersedes and replaces any other repurchase program that the company previously reported, it said.

I-Flow develops ambulatory infusion systems.