A Medical Device Daily
Nydic Open MRI of America (Montvale, New Jersey), a provider of MRI services, has received a $5 million revolving line of credit and a $13.7 million term loan from Bridge Healthcare Finance (Chicago), in conjunction with its Bridge Opportunity Finance division.
Lawrence Buchwalter, president and CEO of Nydic, said, “Diagnostic Imaging is a capital-intensive business requiring significant amounts to fund operations. It is also a highly competitive business. This financing will allow us to continue to capitalize on the growing demand for diagnostic imaging services and remain competitive.”
Randy Abrahams, president and CEO of Bridge Healthcare, said, “Our expertise in diagnostic imaging and ap-petite for restructuring made us an excellent match and partner for the completion of this transaction.”
Nydic Open MRI and affiliates is one of the largest companies in the U.S. providing open MRI services, with 28 imaging facilities in 14 states.
In other financing activity:
• PolyMedica (Woburn, Massachusetts) reported on its modified “Dutch auction” tender offer to purchase up to $150 million of its outstanding common stock, the offer expiring at midnight, EDT, last Friday.
Based on a preliminary count, about 5,059,617 shares of common stock were properly tendered and not withdrawn at prices at or below $37.50 a share, PolyMedica said. In addition, about 1,880,344 shares were tendered at various price points within the range of $34.75 to $37.50 through notice of guaranteed delivery. The company expects to purchase 4 million shares of its common stock at a price of $37.50 a share.
The actual number of shares purchased, the final purchase price and the final proration factor will be announced following completion of verification, and the company will then commence payment for the shares of common stock accepted for purchase and return all other shares tendered and not accepted for purchase.
PolyMedica is a provider of healthcare products and services to patients suffering from chronic diseases. With over 700,000 active patients, the company bills itself as the nation’s largest provider of blood glucose testing supplies and related services to those with diabetes.
• Sonus Pharmaceuticals (Bothell, Washington) reported that it has sub-licensed intellectual property for fluorocarbon-based oxygen delivery applications to ImaRx Therapeutics (Tucson, Arizona). Sonus said that this oxygen delivery technology is not part of its core research, which shifted “several years ago” to the development of novel cancer drug therapies utilizing a vitamin E-based technology.
ImaRx will obtain rights to four patents covering Sonus’ fluorocarbon technology, including both composition of matter patents and patents directed to methods of using the technology to deliver oxygen for therapeutic applications. ImaRx will pay royalties to Sonus upon commercialization of any resulting products.
Michael Martino, president and CEO of Sonus, said, “We are pleased that we now have an opportunity to monetize our past investment in fluorocarbon technology, which had been an earlier business focus of Sonus. We are currently developing drugs for the treatment of cancer based on our TocosoL vitamin E technology platform and are no longer pursuing the application of the fluorocarbon technology. However, we believe this technology is unique among approaches to oxygen delivery and has value for a company like ImaRx [which is] exploring a variety of potential applications in this field.”
ImaRx develops NanoInvasive therapies for the treatment of cardiovascular and CNS diseases and cancers. The company’s lead product, SonoLysis, combines ultrasound technology with proprietary nanobubbles to locally dissolve blood clots without invasive surgery or lytic drugs.
SonoLysis is currently in a Phase II study for stroke and a Phase I/II study for peripheral arterial occlusive disease.