A Medical Device Daily

BridgePoint Medical (Minneapolis), a private company developing technology in the field of interventional cardiology for crossing coronary and peripheral chronic total occlusions (CTO), reported completing a second round of private equity financing of about $10 million.

Participants in the round include new investor Foundation Medical Partners and existing investors Michael Berman, New Enterprise Associates and Polaris Venture Partners.

Bridgepoint says that interventional cardiologists are currently unable to broadly treat patients with CTOs which comprise about one-third of all patients diagnosed with coronary artery disease. For these patients, the common alternative is open heart bypass surgery or palliative care.

The company says that 1.3 million patients worldwide could benefit from its CTO technology each year.

Chad Kugler, BridgePoint’s president and general manager, said that the company’s technology “will enable interventional cardiologists to offer a fast, safe and effective therapy to an under-served patient population, while reducing the need for invasive surgery or life-long medical management.”

Andrew Firlik, general partner at Foundation Medical Partners, has joined the BridgePoint board.

Founded in 2005 by Michael Berman, Robert Atkinson, and Kugler, BridgePoint is the first spin-out from the medical device incubator Prospex Medical (Arden Hills, Minnesota).

To date, with the inclusion of funds raised for the incubator Prospex, BridgePoint reports having raised about $12.5 million through two rounds of financing.

Oculus Innovative Sciences (Petaluma, California) 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.

The offering was originally set for 3.1 million shares at $12 to $14 a share, and it is now set for 3.5 million shares at $8 to $10 a share.

The company hopes to generate about $26.2 million net from the offering. It said it will use the proceeds to expand sales and marketing capabilities and fund debt and clinical trials.

Underwriters, which include Roth Capital, Maxim Group and Brookstreet Securities, are entitled to purchase another 525,000 shares to cover over-allotments.

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.”

In other financing activity:

Matritech (Newton, Massachusetts), a developer of protein-based diagnostic products for the detection of cancer, reported closing a $4.36 million private placement of Series B 15% secured convertible promissory notes maturing Dec. 13, 2007, and warrants to purchase 4,157,143 shares of common stock of the company.

Matritech said the net proceeds from the financing are about $3.8 million.

Current investors SDS Capital Group, H&Q Life Science Investors and various ProMed funds were participants in the financing. Matritech said it will use the proceeds for R&D, selling and marketing expenses, working capital and for general corporate purposes.

Stephen Chubb, CEO and chairman of Matritech, said, “The new financing affords Matritech the opportunity to continue the momentum we have developed in the sales of our NMP22 BladderChek Test.”

The notes are convertible into 6,928,572 shares of common stock and allow for payment of interest and principal in cash or by issuing common stock. The warrants have an exercise price of 63 cents a share and are exercisable for five years.

Until stockholder approval of certain provisions in the notes and warrants, stock issuances under the notes and warrants may not be made at an effective conversion price below 63 cents. Matritech also has issued to the placement agent in the financing a warrant to purchase 55,556 shares of common stock at 76 cents a share exercisable for five years.

Chubb said the company would give a 2007 outlook report, along with its report of its full-year 2006 results, on Feb. 6.

The company also reported that its board has been expanded to 11 members and that David Musket and Robert Rosenthal, PhD, were elected to its board on Jan. 22.

Musket is president of Musket Research Associates, an investment banking firm focused on emerging healthcare companies which served as placement agent for the company in financing transactions completed in 2005 and 2006.

Rosenthal has been president/CEO and a member of the board of Magellan Biosciences, a private biotech company engaged in the development and marketing of rapid point-of-care analyzers and automated systems for hospital-based labs and near-patient testing, since 2005.

Revolutions Medical (Mount Pleasant, South Carolina) reported completing a 20-to-1 reverse stock split intended, it said, to improve its capital structure and to raise the capital needed for product sales and marketing, and product development.

Revolutions Medical says it operates in the safety-engineered medical devices arena, its products including the ReVac Safety Syringe, safety blood-drawing device and the ReVac Safety IV Catheter.

“This was an enormous move forward for Revolutions Medical Corporation as we make the transition from a strictly R&D company to a company that is going into sales and marketing of its first products, while developing new products internally and through acquisition,” said Ron Wheet, president/CEO of the company.