A Medical Device Daily

Acorn Cardiovascular, (St. Paul, Minnesota) a company developing therapies for the treatment of heart failure, has reported completed a $22 million financing.

Acorn is the developer of the CorCap CSD, a mesh wrap surgically placed around the heart to support and relieve stress on the heart muscle. As heart failure progresses, the heart enlarges and becomes increasingly less efficient at pumping blood; hence, the CorCap is intended to improve the heart's size, shape and function.

The CorCap received CE marking in 2000, and the company reports that more than 500 patients have been implanted with the device.

Lead investors Cardinal Partners (Princeton, New Jersey) and Fidelity Biosciences (Cambridge, Massachusetts), together with Thoratec (Pleasanton, California), joined existing investors Credit Suisse (Zurich, Switzerland) New Enterprise Associates (Menlo Park, California) and SightLine Partners (Minneapolis, Minnesota) as the principal participants. Craig-Hallum acted as exclusive placement agent to Acorn.

The company said that the financing will support product development, clinical, and regulatory activities of the company. Charles Hadley of Cardinal Partners and Robert Weisskoff of Fidelity Biosciences will join Acorn's board of directors.

Acorn develops treatments for patients with heart failure.

Osiris Therapeutics (Columbia, Maryland) a stem cell therapeutic company reported yesterday that it has closed an $11.8 million private placement of its common stock and eliminated through conversion, $18.8 million of debt. No fees or commissions were paid in either transaction.

On Dec. 18, 2007, Osiris agreed to sell 950,000 shares, or $11.8 million, of its common stock at $12.37 a share, in conjunction with a private placement complying with Securities and Exchange regulations.

The company said that the proceeds will be used to further develop the company's adult stem cell products, including those currently in Phase III trials, and for general corporate purposes.

The shares were placed in Switzerland by Friedli Corporate Finance, of which Peter Friedli, the Chairman of the Board of Directors and largest stockholder of Osiris is the president and sole owner. The company also said that $18.8 million of its 10%, $20 million promissory notes, together with accrued interest, have been converted at $13 a share into about 1.46 million shares of common stock. As a result of the conversion, the company will eliminate $3 million in cash interest expense that would have accrued had the notes remained outstanding to maturity.

The notes were issued on Oct. 30, 2006, and had a scheduled maturity date of April 30, 2009. Peter Friedli held $8.5 million of the notes, which were converted into 662,746 shares of common stock.

Osiris is developing stem cell treatments in the inflammatory, orthopedic and cardiovascular areas.

In other financings:

• Grubb & Ellis Healthcare REIT, (Santa Ana, California) said it has negotiated an increase in its secured revolving line of credit with LaSalle Bank National Association. Under terms of the agreement, the maximum principal amount available under the line of credit has increased from $50 million to $80 million, for a term of three years, bearing interest, at the option of Grubb & Ellis Healthcare REIT, at a rate equal to LIBOR plus a margin of 1.50%, the greater of LaSalle's prime rate or the Federal Funds Rate, or a combination of these rates. Additionally, KeyBank National Association joined LaSalle as a lender under the increased line of credit. Grubb & Ellis said it may utilize the line of credit to fund property acquisitions and for other business purposes. Grubb & Ellis said that as of Dec. 7 it has sold about 19.9 million shares of its common stock, excluding the shares issued under its distribution reinvestment plan, for more than $199 million through its initial public offering, which began in 3Q06. Grubb & Ellis and its subsidiaries are sponsors of real estate investment programs that offering individuals the opportunity to invest in various real estate investment vehicles.
• The board of Pediatrix Medical Group (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) said that it has authorized the company to acquire up to $100 million of its common stock through open market purchases. Pediatrix board said that it authorized the repurchase program based on available cash balances, as well as the expected net proceeds from the sale of its newborn metabolic screening laboratory. Pediatrix also reported that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its newborn metabolic screening laboratory to PerkinElmer (Waltham, Massachusetts). "We have sufficient financial resources to execute our growth strategy, which includes attracting physicians to our national group practice by acquiring their practices on favorable terms, and simultaneously move forward with this share repurchase program," said Roger Medel, MD, CEO of Pediatrix. Pediatrix says that it is the nation's leading provider of neonatal, maternal-fetal and pediatric physician subspecialty services and recently expanded to include anesthesiology services.
• IMS Health (Norwalk, Connecticut) a provider of market intelligence to the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries, said that its board has authorized the company to buy up to 20 million IMS shares under a new stock repurchase program. The company completed the purchase of 10 million shares of IMS stock under a previous program authorized by the board in December 2006. IMS said anticipates that the shares will be acquired in privately negotiated transactions or in open-market purchases in compliance with Securities and Exchange Commission Rule 10b-18.
• Interleukin Genetics (Waltham, Massachusetts) reported that Alticor (Ada, Michigan), through its subsidiary Pyxis Innovations (Kingston, Ontario), has converted about $2 million in debt into shares of common stock, representing principal and accrued interest from promissory notes issued from October 2002 through January 2003 which were to mature on December 31, 2007. Under the terms of the Promissory Notes, the conversion price of $0.6392 resulted in the company's issuance of 3,190,987 shares of common stock. Pyxis previously agreed not to sell these shares prior to Aug. 17, 2008.