A Medical Device Daily

Accelerator Corp. (Seattle) reported that it has secured more than $22.5 million of new commitments to enable it to continue to identify, evaluate, finance, and manage emerging biotechnology opportunities.

This third round of capital is Accelerator's largest to date, and is led by existing investors Amgen Ventures, ARCH Venture Partners, and OVP Venture Partners, with participation by existing investor Alexandria Real Estate Equities and new investor WRF Capital.

These new commitments bring the total raised for Accelerator and Accelerator companies to more than $130 million since Accelerator's inception in 2003. The Institute for Systems Biology (ISB; Seattle) will continue in its present role as the key scientific institutional anchor for Accelerator.

The company said it expects this third round of commitments to enable investment in up to six new opportunities in the coming two to three years.

"We are very pleased with the progress at Accelerator since our participation in its founding in 2003," stated Dr. Leroy Hood, president of ISB. "ISB has made significant contributions to Accelerator, with half of the first six investments based upon either ISB-based technologies or opportunities identified for Accelerator by ISB faculty. We are enthusiastic about continuing this relationship in this third round of commitments, and, in fact, beyond that in the foreseeable future."

Medical Properties Trust (MPT; Birmingham, Alabama) reported that its board has authorized the company to repurchase up to 3 million shares of its common stock. This represents about 6% of the company's fully diluted outstanding common stock.

The company said that repurchases under this program may be made in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions. The timing and actual number of shares repurchased will depend on a variety of factors including price, corporate and regulatory requirements, market conditions, and other corporate liquidity requirements and priorities.

The stock repurchase program may be suspended or terminated at any time without prior notice, and will expire on July 31, 2008.

Repurchased shares will be added to the company's treasury stock, and could be used for employee benefit plans, future acquisitions or other corporate purposes.

MPT is a self-advised real estate investment trust that acquires net-leased healthcare facilities. These facilities include inpatient rehabilitation hospitals, long-term acute care hospitals, regional acute care hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers and other single-discipline healthcare facilities, such as heart hospitals, orthopedic hospitals and cancer centers.