A Medical Device Daily

PolyMedica (Wakefield, Massachusetts) reported that it will offer, subject to market and other conditions, $150 million principal amount of convertible subordinated notes, due 2011, in a private offering.

The notes may be convertible into cash up to the principal amount. Any conversion value above the principal amount will be convertible into shares of common stock.

The company also said it expects to grant initial purchasers a 30-day option to buy up to $30 million in additional notes to cover overallotments.

PolyMedica said it expects to use the proceeds to repay about $94 million in outstanding bank debt and to repurchase about $29 million of its common stock in negotiated transactions from purchasers concurrently with the offering. These repurchase amounts represent the roughly 705,000 shares remaining in the company's existing stock repurchase program.

In addition, PolyMedica said it will use a portion of net proceeds to pay the net cost of certain convertible note hedge and warrant transactions consisting of a call in favor of PolyMedica and a warrant issued to the initial purchasers or their affiliates. These transactions are intended to reduce the potential dilution to the company's common stock upon any conversion of the notes.

PolyMedica is a large providers of blood glucose testing supplies and related services to people with diabetes in the U.S., saying that it serves more than 888,000 patients.

NuPathe (Conshohocken, Pennsylvania), a pharma company developing transdermal therapy, reported raising $15 million in a Series A financing.

The company said it will use the funds to advance its expanding clinical programs, including development of therapies to treat migraine and other central nervous system (CNS) disorders.

NuPathe develops therapeutics that use transdermal delivery technologies. NuPathe's lead product, NP101, is in clinical trials as a potential treatment for migraine. It says that the ability to deliver migraine medication through a fast and long-acting transdermal patch may provide an alternative for the large percentage of migraine patients who suffer from nausea, vomiting or migraine recurrence. Two additional products, NP201 and NP202, are in preclinical development for treatment of Parkinson's disease and schizophrenia.

Jane Hollingsworth, CEO and chair of NuPathe, said, “With this financing we are well positioned to advance our clinical programs aggressively in the years ahead.”

The private equity financing was co-led by Birchmere Ventures and BioAdvance Ventures, an early-stage venture fund managed by Quaker BioVentures, and included additional funding from Safeguard Scientifics and from other institutional investors.