A Diagnostics & Imaging Week Staff Report
Accumetrics (San Diego), a privately held company that makes the VerifyNow family of diagnostic tests that measure platelet function, said it has raised $8.25 million in its Series C financing.
The syndicate of investors was led by RiverVest Venture Partners. Also participating in the round were new investor Kaiser Venture Partners and previous major investors, including Essex Woodlands Health Ventures, KB Partners, PTV Sciences and a private corporate in-vestor.
"These proceeds give us the resources to build on the momentum of the recent FDA approval of the VerifyNow P2Y12 assay, advancing our efforts to raise awareness of the importance of measuring platelet function," said Robert Hillman, president and CEO of Accumetrics.
The company's VerifyNow family of diagnostic tests evaluate platelet function and patient response to antiplatelet drugs, including aspirin and Plavix (clopidogrel), two of the most widely-used therapies in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease. In addition, there is a VerifyNow test for ReoPro (abcimixmab) and Integrilin (eptifibatide), both GP IIb/IIIa inhibitors, which are injectable antiplatelet drugs used in conjunction with coronary artery procedures.
The FDA-cleared tests are reimbursed by Medicare and can be performed in the hospital laboratory and physician's office.
Accumetrics' newest product, the VerifyNow P2Y12 test, was recently cleared by the FDA and measures the effects of Plavix.
NightHawk Radiology Holdings (Coeur D'Alene, Idaho) has set the price of its initial public offering (IPO) of 6.3 million common shares, par value $0.001 per share, at $16 a share. Of those shares, NightHawk will sell 5.8 million shares and entities affiliated with Summit Partners will sell 500,000 shares.
Certain selling shareholders have granted the underwriters an over-allotment option to purchase up to another 945,000 shares.
Shares of NightHawk common stock will trade on the Nasdaq under the symbol NHWK. The company initially registered the IPO with the Securities and Exchange Commission in October.
NightHawk will receive net proceeds of about $84.3 million from the offering. It said it would use the proceeds to repay outstanding debt and for general corporate purposes.
NightHawk Radiology Holdings owns NightHawk Radiology Services, a provider of nighttime and weekend emergency radiology services to radiology groups and hospitals across the U.S. NightHawk employs U.S. trained, American Board of Radiology-certified physicians to provide preliminary radiological interpretations from its central reading facility in Sydney, Australia. The physicians – who work off-hours, from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. EST – electronically receive, read and respond to the submitted radiology scans in a transcribed report that is sent back to the attending physician within 20 minutes, on average.
"NightHawk is filling a critical need which allows radiologists to meet the ever-increasing demand for their specialized expertise," said Dr. Paul Berger, president and CEO.
NightHawk Radiology Holdings received an investment of $25 million from Summit Partners.
Nighthawk Radiology Holdings late last year purchased American Teleradiology Nighthawks, a Virginia-based provider of overnight and off-hours teleradiology services. The company said at the time that the acquisition enabled it to increase its customer base by acquiring contracts previously held by American Teleradiology.
Father and son Paul and Jon Berger collectively own about 43% of capital stock in Nighthawk; director Peter Chung owns about 27% through his partnership in Summit Partners.
Morgan Stanley & Co. is the sole book-runner and lead manager for the offering. Co-managers are Banc of America Securities, Piper Jaffray & Co., SG Cowen & Co. and Montgomery & Co.
Inverness Medical Innovations (IMI; Waltham, Mass- achusetts) reported that it has entered into definitive agreements with funds affiliated with 14 accredited institutional investors to sell 3.4 million shares of its common stock, $.001 par value per share, in a private placement.
The shares will be sold at $24.41 per share, a 7% discount off of the closing price of Inverness' common stock on Feb. 2, the date of pricing.
The company said it intends to use the proceeds for general corporate purposes including future acquisitions. The transaction is expected to close this week.
IMI is a supplier of consumer pregnancy and fertility/ovulation tests and rapid point-of-care diagnostics.