A Medical Device Daily

Picis (Wakefield, Massachusetts) said it has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed initial public offering (IPO) of its common stock.

The company said it anticipates raising as much as $86.25 million in the IPO.

Goldman, Sachs & Co. will be the sole book-running manager of the proposed offering, with Piper Jaffray & Co. as co-lead manager, and Thomas Weisel Partners and William Blair & Co. as co-managers.

Picis is a provider of healthcare information technology solutions designed to transform the delivery of patient care in high-acuity areas of the hospital, including the emergency department, operating and recovery rooms and intensive care units.

The company has licensed its systems for use in more than 1,000 hospitals in 19 countries.

Natus Medical (San Carlos, California) has priced an offering to sell 2.3 million shares of its common stock at a price of $11.63 per share. The shares are being sold under the company's previously filed shelf registration statement, declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission on Aug. 15.

Natus is a provider of healthcare products used for screening, detection, treatment, monitoring and tracking of common medical ailments such as hearing impairment, neurological dysfunction, epilepsy, sleep disorders, newborn jaundice and newborn metabolic testing.

The company expects that the net proceeds of the offering will be about $25 million after deducting underwriting commissions and discounts and other expenses associated with the offering.

Natus said it intends to use the proceeds for general corporate purposes, which may include the financing of potential acquisitions of, or investments in, companies and technologies that complement the company's business, as well as for capital expenditures and working capital needs.

It also may use a portion of the proceeds to repay some or all of the remaining balance on its senior secured credit facility with Wells Fargo Bank.

In connection with the offering, the company also granted the underwriter a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 345,000 shares to cover over-allotments, if any. The offering is expected to close on or about Aug. 23.

Roth Capital Partners is the sole underwriter of the offering.

IsoRay (Richland, Washington), which is focused on treatment of solid cancer tumors through use of its proprietary Cesium-131 brachytherapy seeds, has received its first major institutional funding, led by MicroCapital.

In the transition, IsoRay issues 2,063,200 shares of its common stock at $2.50 a share and also issued warrants to purchase 2,232,700 shares of its common stock (including warrants issued to brokers) at an exercise price of $3 a share. The warrants have a call feature that IsoRay can trigger once the stock trades above $4.50 a share for a specified time period. If all warrants are exercised, IsoRay will receive an additional $6,698,100.

"MicroCapital's financing of IsoRay represents a rare opportunity to invest in a company that has an approved and differentiated therapeutic product that we believe has a good chance of successful adoption," said Ian Ellis of MicroCapital. "In addition to the value associated with reducing the side effects of brachytherapy in the treatment of prostate cancer, the company's isotope may have the characteristics that would allow it to be used in circumstances where there appears to be few, if any alternative treatment."

Ellis said his firm believes that the quality of the industry-experienced team that IsoRay has attracted "is an indication of the possibility of success in this market."

Ellis said that the transaction has been structured so that if the call feature is used to trigger exercise of the warrants, the additional funds should be sufficient to get IsoRay to the point where it may be self-funding.

Roger Girard, chairman/CEO of IsoRay, said, "Brachytherapy has proven to be effective, but the introduction of Cesium-131 takes this treatment option to a new level. Lead investor MicroCapital, along with the other institutional investors, recognized both short-term and long-term market potential of this cancer treatment option."

In other financing news:

• CV Therapeutics (Palo Alto, California) said that the underwriters of the company's public offering of 9 million shares of its common stock have exercised their option to purchase an additional 1.35 million shares at the purchase price of $9.50 a share to cover over-allotments. The closing of this additional purchase option will increase the aggregate number of shares sold in the offering to 10.35 million.

CV Therapeutics is focused on applying molecular cardiology to the discovery, development and commercialization of novel, small-molecule drugs for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. Its approved products include Ranexa (ranolazine extended- release tablets) and Aceon (perindopril erbumine) tablets. Ranexa is indicated for the treatment of chronic angina in patients who have not achieved an adequate response with other antianginal drugs, and should be used in combination with amlodipine, beta-blockers or nitrates.

The company also has other clinical and pre-clinical drug development candidates and programs, including regadenoson, which is being developed for potential use as a pharmacologic stress agent in myocardial perfusion imaging studies.

• ICON (Dublin, Ireland), a global provider of outsourced development services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries, said that its board of directors has recommended a bonus share issue. The proposal is subject to approval by the shareholders of the company at an extraordinary general meeting to be held in Dublin on Sept. 29.

The board said it believes that the bonus share issue will increase the liquidity and marketability of the company's stock.

ICON specializes in the strategic development, management and analysis of programs that support clinical development – from compound selection to Phase I-IV clinical studies.

Company teams have successfully conducted more than 1,900 development projects and over 2,300 consultancy engagements across all major therapeutic areas. ICON has more than 3,700 employees and operates from 45 locations in 30 countries.

• Medical Specialties Distributors (MSD, Boston) reported that it has entered into a $53 million credit agreement with GE Healthcare Financial Services for business expansion. MSD supplies healthcare products and biomedical equipment rentals and service to the home healthcare market.