A Medical Device Daily

Inverness Medical Innovations (IMI; Waltham, Massachusetts) reported that it is offering to sell up to 5 million shares of its common stock in accordance with a shelf registration statement in an underwritten public offering.

The company said it also expects to grant the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 750,000 shares of common stock to cover any over- allotments. All of the shares in the offering are to be sold by IMI.

If all the shares are exercised, including the over-allotments, the company could raise up to $228.62 million, before expenses.

The company said it intends to use a portion of the proceeds from the offering to repay outstanding indebtedness and for working capital and other general corporate purposes, including the financing of potential acquisitions or other investments, and for capital expenditures.

Inverness has already made its first acquisition this year. Earlier this month, the company bought Canadian distributor Med-Ox Chemicals (Ottawa, Ontario) for $5.4 million (Medical Device Daily, Jan. 17, 2007).

Jefferies & Co. and UBS Investment Bank are acting as joint book-running managers for the offering. Cowen and Co. and Leerink Swann & Co. are acting as co-managers for the offering.

In other financings:

Claros Diagnostics (Woburn, Massachusetts) reported the closing of a $7.8 million Series A financing to develop a handheld diagnostic testing system for point-of-care use. The round was led by Oxford Bioscience Partners with additional investments coming from Bioventures Investors, Accelerated Technologies Partners, and Commons Capital.

Claros says it has developed a handheld immunoassay system incorporating a lab-on-a-chip configuration which produces high performance quantitative laboratory blood test results with the ease-of-use of rapid qualitative diagnostic test strips.

The company said the device will enable the physician to quantitatively analyze a blood sample in the office, allowing completion of the examination within the timeframe of the visit.

The company will initially focus on developing its diagnostic system for urological cancer, incorporating an established panel of biomarkers, anchored by prostate-specific antigen (PSA). The data from diagnostic tests that quantitatively detect PSA and PSA velocity drive the decision by urologists to perform about 1 million prostate biopsies annually on patients.

“This simple, rapid and elegant technology offers the potential to transform the diagnostics landscape by transitioning critical tests from the centralized lab directly into the hands of the physician,” said Michael Magliochetti, PhD, president/CEO of Claros. “Our initial focus is the development of a point-of-care assay for established prostate cancer diagnostics, which we believe will provide significant incentives for both physician and patient. The applications of our technology platform extend well beyond cancer diagnostics, encompassing infectious disease, women’s health, and critical care, as well as the potential for companion diagnostics to existing therapeutics.”

In other financing news:

Tyco International (Pembroke, Bermuda) reported that it filed documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission to register equity securities for its Tyco Electronics and Tyco Healthcare subsidiaries, and debt offerings in connection with its upcoming separation into three independent, publicly traded companies.

Tyco reported in January of 2006 its intent to divide the company’s portfolio of diverse businesses that generated $41 billion in net revenue in FY06, into three independent companies through tax-free stock dividends to Tyco shareholders — after which they will own 100% of the equity in three public companies (MDD, Jan. 17, 2006).

Subject to review by the SEC and subsequent registration statement effectiveness, the separation is expected to occur early in the second calendar quarter of 2007.

Tyco Healthcare manufactures medical devices and supplies, diagnostic imaging agents, pharmaceuticals and other healthcare products for use in clinical and home settings. Its portfolio of products is sold under brand names including United States Surgical, AutoSuture, Valleylab, Mallinckrodt, Nellcor, Puritan Bennett and Kendall.

Tyco Healthcare said it expects to announce a name change, and the NYSE and BSX ticker symbol for which it will apply, later this month.

Trimedyne (Lake Forest, California), a maker of Holmium lasers and fiber optic laser devices for minimally invasive surgical procedures, reported that its amended registration statement, covering slightly less than 2.92 million shares of common stock sold in a previously disclosed private placement, became effective last Wednesday. The amendment reflects the issuance of an additional 265,000 shares to the investors.

The company said the proceeds of the private placement of about $3 million will be used to finance the increased sales of its new side-firing laser fiber by Boston Scientific (Natick, Massachusetts) in the U.S. and Japan, and by Lumenis (Yokneam, Israel) throughout the world, expected to begin late in 2Q07.

The amended restatement also covers 212,000 shares issuable under warrants issued to two investment bankers.