A Medical Device Daily

Solexa (Hayward, California) reported that it has filed a universal shelf registration statement on Form S-3 with the SEC for future offerings of up to $100 million.

When declared effective by the SEC, the registration statement will allow the company to issue securities, which may consist of common stock, preferred stock, warrants, debt or any combination thereof, in one or more future offerings up to a maximum aggregate offering amount of $100 million.

The specific terms of any such future offerings and the type of securities to be issued would be determined at the time of any future offering.

Solexa is developing and preparing to commercialize the Solexa genome analysis system, which will be used to perform a range of analyses including whole genome resequencing, gene expression analysis and small RNA analysis.

Biophan Technologies (Rochester, New York) reported that it has exercised a call requiring SBI Brightline XI to purchase 1 million shares of Biophan common stock at a price of $2 per share, as part of its financing agreement with SBI.

Under the financing agreement, Biophan has the right, at any time at its sole discretion, to require SBI to purchase up to 9 million more shares of common stock at prices ranging from $2 to $4 per share. If the facility is fully utilized, the company would receive aggregate proceeds of $30 million, at an average price of $3 per share.

“We are pleased to finally be moving forward with this critical component of our business plan,” said Michael Weiner, Biophan CEO. “It will give us access to the capital needed to meet our development objectives in several critical markets and to continue the expansion of our marketing efforts.”

The activities to be supported by this funding will advance Biophan's internal research and development for safe and image compatible products and will further enhance the company's strategic relationships, the company said.

These initiatives include a licensing agreement with Boston Scientific (Natick, Massachusetts); a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) with the FDA to research and define methods for measuring MRI safety of medical implants; focusing on the leads used with cardiac pacemakers, defibrillators, and neurostimulators; and Myotech 's (Dedham, Massachusetts) MYO-VAD, a ventricular assist device (VAD), which does not contact blood, reducing the potential for complications that plague existing VADs.

Biophan's technologies are designed to enable medical systems such as pacemakers, interventional surgical devices such as catheters and guidewires, and implants such as stents to be safely and/or effectively imaged under MRI.

In other financing news:

• Flamel Technologies (Lyon, France) reported that it has received a $1 million milestone from its collaborator, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK; London).

The milestone payment was triggered by successful completion of activities relating to the manufacturing process for Coreg CR microparticles.

Flamel and GSK completed a supply agreement in December 2004 under which Flamel is responsible for manufacturing Coreg CR microparticles.

Flamel is a biopharmaceutical company principally engaged in the development of two unique polymer-based delivery technologies for medical applications. Micropump is a controlled release and taste-masking technology for the oral administration of small molecule drugs. Flamel's Medusa technology is designed to deliver controlled-release formulations of therapeutic proteins.

• Bausch & Lomb (B&L; Rochester, New York) reported that it has further extended the consent deadline in connection with its previously disclosed offer to purchase and consent solicitation with respect to its 7.125% debentures due 2028.

The new consent deadline is 5 p.m., EDT, on Wednesday.

Holders who validly tender their 2028 debentures on or prior to the consent deadline will be eligible to receive the total consideration with respect to the debentures, which will be $1,000 per $1,000 principal amount.

Holders validly tendering debentures after Wednesday, but on or before June 2, 2006, will receive the par value less $1 per $1,000 principal amount of the debentures.

The extension of the consent deadline applies to the 7.125% debentures only. The company said it has received requisite consents with respect to the other issuances of notes and convertible notes included in the original tender offer and consent solicitation begun on May 5.