A Medical Device Daily

TomoTherapy (Madison, Wisconsin) reported that it raised $14 million of new equity capital in late December.

The company said the new capital will boost its accelerating growth and expand operations as it meets what it termed "worldwide demand" for its cancer treatment system. The funding also will be used to increase manufacturing capacity.

"Our shareholders understand our growth story and the need to further invest in expansion," said Dr. Frederick Robertson, CEO of TomoTherapy. "Our growth has been dramatic. Revenue increased almost 70% in 2005, while the number of orders for our system more than doubled between years."

To keep pace, Robertson said the company has ramped up its hiring, growing from 171 employees at the end of 2004 to 327 employees Dec. 31, 2005. He said the additional capital will help solidify the balance sheet while providing more funds for growth, especially in the international markets.

"This could very well be our last round of private financing," Robertson said.

The company said that the Series E financing was completed by its current investor group and the company's board of directors. Significant investors included: The Endeavors Group, Open Prairie Ventures, State of Wisconsin Investment Board, Advantage Capital Wisconsin Partners and Ascension Health Ventures.

The company said it has now raised a total of $42 million of outside equity capital in five rounds.

TomoTherapy has developed a system combining on-board CT imaging with conformal radiation therapy to provide precision in the treatment of cancer. The TomoTherapy Hi-Art System is designed to target radiation treatment to the patient's tumor while helping to limit damage to the surrounding tissues. The TomoTherapy technology was born out of collaboration with the University of Wisconsin.

NanoLogix (Sharon, Pennsylvania) reported receiving a financing commitment "fostered" by the Nutmeg Group.

The company said that an initial commitment of $750,000 will enable it to reach key milestones in rolling out its hydrogen generation system technologies to be deployed at Welch's (Concord, Massachusetts), as well as the commercialization of its medical diagnostic products.

NanoLogix is a nanobiotechnology company that develops technologies for the production of bacteria, disease testing kits, alternative sources of fuel, cancer therapy, and remediation of toxic materials.

In other financing activity:

• Saint Vincent Catholic Medical Centers (Saint Vincent's; New York) reported that it has put in place a $350 million debtor-in-possession secured credit facility with GE Healthcare Financial Services as the administrative agent and sole arranger.

Saint Vincent's said it will use a portion of the financing to retire all of the publicly held bonds issued by the Dormitory Authority of the state of New York.

The new financing is at lower effective rates than that previously in place and relies solely on private lenders that will give Saint Vincent's greater flexibility to transfer and use its assets throughout the reorganization, the organization said.

Saint Vincent's is a New York metropolitan area comprehensive healthcare system, serving nearly 600,000 people. It includes six hospitals: Mary Immaculate Hospital, Queens; St. John's Queens Hospital; St. Vincent's Hospital Manhattan; St. Vincent's Hospital Staten Island; Bayley Seton Hospital, Staten Island; and St. Vincent's Hospital Westchester.