A Medical Device Daily

Oculus Innovative Sciences (Petaluma, California) reported that it commenced today its initial public offering of 3,025,000 shares of its common stock at $8 per share, on the low end of its revised pricing of $8 to $10 a share. Roth Capital Partners acted as book-running manager for this offering, and Maxim Group and Brookstreet Securities acted as co-managers.

All of the shares were sold by the company.

The company has granted the underwriters an option to purchase an additional 453,750 shares to cover any over-allotments.

If all the over-allotments are exercised, the company stands to raise $27.83 million before expenses.

Oculus’ common stock will be traded on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol “OCLS.” The offering is expected to close on January 30, subject to customary closing conditions.

Earlier this week Oculus reported that it has increased the number of shares of its proposed initial public offering, but lowered the share pricing of the shares to be offered (Medical Device Daily, Jan. 24, 2007).

The offering was originally set for 3.1 million shares at $12 to $14 a share, and was revised to 3.5 million shares at $8 to $10 a share. The underwriters over-allotment was also lowered by 71,250 shares.

The company said it will use the proceeds to expand sales and marketing capabilities and fund debt and clinical trials.

Oculus manufactures products intended to help prevent and treat infections in chronic and acute wounds.

It describes its platform technology, called Microcyn, as “a non-toxic, electrically charged, or super-oxidized, water-based solution that is designed to treat a wide range of organisms that cause disease, or pathogens, including viruses, fungi, spores and antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria, such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus, or VRE, in wounds.”

The company says that it does not have regulatory approvals to market Microcyn in the U.S. as a drug but that in clinical testing and studies, its products “were effective against a wide range of pathogens and were found to be non-toxic, easy to use and complementary to most existing treatment methods in wound care.”

The Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse (PLSG; Pittsburgh) reported the launch of Arthritis Imaging (Pittsburgh), a company that uses a combination of 3D imaging and thermal imaging to more accurately diagnose and track the progression of inflammation in patients.

Early-stage funding for Arthritis Imaging was provided by PLSG ($150,000) and Oakland-based regional commercialization proponent Idea Foundry ($175,000).

Arthritis Imaging — to be led by Fred Marroni, a PLSG executive-in-residence with international experience in imaging-related industries — represents the first commercialized company based on technology developed and clinically tested at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC. Carnegie Mellon University’s Medical Robotics Institute and the University of Pittsburgh also have contributed technological expertise to the project.

The need for a more precise and consistent way to diagnose and plan treatment for inflammation caused by rheumatoid arthritis provided the springboard for Arthritis Imaging, the organizations said.

“Determining the severity of inflammation traditionally is done by a physical exam, which involves substantial subjectivity,” said Marroni. “We want to take what has always been a subjective evaluation process and turn it into a quantifiable measurement of the disease. Our imaging technology also creates a way to track the history of the patient, while providing an earlier diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis to halt joint destruction, since disabilities can result within 10 years.”

A clinical trial involving between 30 and 40 patients is underway at Children’s to assess the effectiveness of this new technology versus the effectiveness of the traditional manual approach.

Compared with other imaging modalities, such as X-ray and MRI, the Arthritis Imaging technology can be used in an office setting, poses no radiation risk, and can be performed in minutes. Since the technology quantifies assessment of swelling and warmth, the company said its applicability can be expanded to other diseases that manifest themselves at skin surface, such as osteoarthritis, skin cancers such as melanoma, and diabetes.

PLSG invests in and supports the growth of life sciences in the Pittsburgh region.

In other financing news:

Varian (Palo Alto, California) reported that its board has authorized repurchase of up to $100 million in shares of its common stock, effective until Dec. 31, 2008.

The company’s previous $100 million stock repurchase program, approved in November 2005 and effective until Sept. 30, 2007, was completed in December. Under that program, Varian repurchased 2,335,597 shares of its common stock. As of Dec. 29, 2006, the company had 30,226,962 common shares outstanding.

Varian is a supplier of scientific instruments and vacuum technologies for life science and industrial applications.

Zoll Medical (Chelmsford, Massachusetts), a manufacturer of resuscitation devices and related software solutions, said that its board has approved a 2-for-1 stock split, effective on Feb. 12. The split will be accomplished through an amendment to Zoll’s restated articles of organization that changes each issued and authorized share of common stock, par value 2 cents a share, into two shares of common stock, par value 1 cent a share.