A Medical Device Daily

Corautus Genetics (Atlanta), a developer of gene therapy products for treating cardiovascular and peripheral vascular disease, reported pricing an offering of 7.5 million shares of common stock at $3.85 a share and expects the stock to be issued on Wednesday.

Corautus said it expects to receive net proceeds of about $26.5 million, which will be used for working capital and for other general corporate purposes including funding clinical trials and manufacturing.

Corautus also granted the underwriters an option to purchase another 1,125,000 shares of common stock to cover over-allotments.

The company filed its preliminary prospectus in February, stating the expectation to raise $31.1 million, or $35.9 million with the sale of allotments (Medical Device Daily, Feb. 28, 2006).

Lazard Capital Markets is the lead manager and sole book-runner for the offering. Jefferies & Co. is co-lead manager.

Primedex Health Systems (Los Angeles) reported completing the issuance of a $161 million senior secured credit facility that it used to refinance its existing indebtedness, except for $16.1 million of outstanding subordinated debentures and about $5 million of capital lease obligations.

The facility provides for a $15 million, five-year revolving credit facility, an $86 million term loan due in five years and a $60 million second lien term loan due in six years.

Primedex operates a group of regional networks comprised of 57 fixed-site, freestanding outpatient diagnostic imaging facilities in California and says it believes its group of networks is the largest of its kind in the state.

Howard Berger, MD, CEO of Primedex, said the new financing would allow the company “to capitalize on the growing opportunities that we see ahead of us in the diagnostic imaging industry. This is a dynamic time in our business.“

GE Capital was lead arranger and will be administrative agent for the credit facility.

In other financing activity:

• Isonics (Golden, Colorado), a provider of solutions for the semiconductor and homeland security markets, un-veiled an agreement with certain holders of its 8% convertible debentures to convert debentures, with a face value of $9 million, into company common stock at $1.45 a share. As a result of this conversion and a $1.9 million payment made on March 1, the company has reduced its debenture debt from $22.8 million to $11.9 million.

The terms of an earlier issue of convertible debenture required the company to reduce the principal amount of the debentures by 1/12th per month beginning March 1.

James Alexander, CEO of Isonics, said the repayment of more than $22 million over a 12-month period “would have significantly impacted our ability to invest in our Homeland Security and Semiconductor businesses, which continue to grow rapidly.“

Isonics' Life Sciences business sells isotopes for the imaging and treatment of cancer.

• Pacific Biometrics (Seattle) reported completing a $3.8 million private equity financing, through sale of about 2.8 million restricted shares of common stock together with warrants to purchase about 800,000 shares of stock at $1.35 a share. The warrants have a price of $1.60 a share, exercisable beginning on the date that is six months from the closing date. If all of warrants are exercised in full, PBI would receive additional funding of about $1.4 million.

PBI provides central laboratory and contract research services for diagnostics and pharma manufacturers conducting clinical trials. And it also several patented technologies, including monitoring devices for glucose and changes in bone turnover, an advanced, proprietary, isothermal DNA amplification technology, and a viability technology to distinguish live from dead cells in a range of diagnostic applications.

• Oracle Healthcare Acquisition (Greenwich, Conn-ecticut) reported close of its initial public offering of 15 million units – including 15 million shares of stock and the same number of warrants, at $8 per unit – generated gross proceeds of $120 million.

Oracle Healthcare Acquisition is a recently organized blank check company formed to acquire, through a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition or other combination, an operating business in the healthcare industry.

• The Houston Technology Center (HTC; Houston) reported that the Gulf Coast Regional Center of Innovation and Commercialization (GCRCIC) is accepting applications for the third round of funding for the Texas Emerging Technology Fund (TETF). Early application deadline for the funding is March 21, 10 a.m. CST, and final application deadline is March 28, 10 a.m. CST.

Grant requests for pre-seed-stage companies should be in the range of $100,000 to $750,000. Early-stage company requests should be in the range of $500,000 to $2.5 million.

To qualify for a TETF grant, companies must have prior scientific/technical validation, either via protected intellectual property or prior grant funding and proposals must be developed in collaboration with a Texas university or college and yield “demonstrable economic benefit to the state.“

TETF, created in June 2005, is allocating $200 million to assist small- to mid-size technology firms to expedite the commercialization of new inventions out of the lab and improve research at Texas universities.

GCRCIC will hold a workshop on Tuesday for companies interested in applying for funding.