A Medical Device Daily

HTG(Tucson), a provider of array-based gene expression assay technology and services to the life sciences industry, said it has closed on $3.4 million in Series B financing.

Solstice Capital, Valley Ventures, Emerging Technology Partners, Deimos Ventures, Village Ventures, members of the Tucson Desert Angels, and HTG founder Bruce Selig-mann participated in the round.

The company said it would use the funds to further expand manufacturing, sales and marketing activities; hire additional personnel; and increase product trials in support of its patented ArrayPlate qNPA (quantitative nuclease protection assay) technology.

Solstice Capital, Valley Ventures and Village Ventures also participated in HTG’s first round of financing in 2002. To date, the company has raised more than $4.6 million.

HTG provides qNPA technology and services for the life sciences industry enabling, it said, a “new era of drug discovery and diagnostics.” The qNPA technology platform is designed for the measurement of molecular signatures through the multiplexed analysis of RNA directly from whole cells, tissues or organisms.

The company said researchers can obtain much higher-quality gene expression data faster than ever before, in days rather than months.

Paradigm Medical Industries (Salt Lake City) reported that it has completed a $2 million to $5 million financing involving the sale of secured convertible notes. The financing was obtained through the NIR Group (Roslyn, New York) and Laidlaw & Co. (New York).

The notes will be purchased in three tranches: the first is for $850,000, which Paradigm Medical received upon the signing of definitive investment agreements on April 25; the second is for $800,000, upon the filing of a registration statement with the SEC; and the third is for $850,000, upon the effectiveness of the registration statement.

“The company plans to use the proceeds for stepped up sales and marketing, particularly for the manufacture and sale of the P60 ultrasound biomicroscope, our new, fourth-generation device that recently was awarded the CE mark,” said CEO John Yoon. “We will also increase research and development activity, especially for the development of a new-generation blood flow analyzer. These two products now account for 50% of the company’s overall revenues.”

The notes are due three years after issuance and are secured by the company’s assets, including inventory, accounts receivable and intellectual property. The notes are convertible into shares of Paradigm Medical common stock at any time during their term.

As further consideration to the purchasers, the company will issue warrants to the investors to acquire an aggregate of 16,534,392 shares of Paradigm common stock at an exercise price of 20 cents per share.

The warrants will have a five-year term from the date of issuance, with cashless exercise permitted in the event there is not an effective registration statement registering the warrants.

Paradigm currently makes surgical and diagnostic equipment and consumable products for the medical industry.

In other financing activity:

• Miravant Medical Technologies (Santa Barbara, California), a pharmaceutical development company specializing in PhotoPoint photodynamic therapy (PDT), reported the closing of an $8 million private placement of convertible preferred stock led by Scorpion Capital Partners, with net proceeds to the company of $7.5 million.

The preferred stock is convertible into common stock at the conversion price of $1 per share. The company has also issued a warrant to purchase one share of common stock for each convertible share of common stock purchased. The exercise price of each warrant is $1 per share.

Separately, the company also disclosed an amendment to its March $15 million convertible debt line-of-credit agreement, to establish the minimum conversion rate at $1 per share of convertible common stock or 125% of the average monthly closing price of the month preceding the conversion, whichever is greater.

The proceeds from the funding will primarily support the Photrex confirmatory Phase III clinical trial for macular degeneration, slated to begin in Europe this summer, the company said.

Miravant is developing photoreactive (light-activated) drugs to selectively target diseased cells and blood vessels. Its primary areas of focus are ophthalmology and cardiovascular disease with new drugs in clinical and preclinical development.

• Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (LabCorp; Burlington, North Carolina) said its board has authorized a new stock repurchase program under which LabCorp may purchase up to $250 million of its common stock from time-to-time.

Any purchases under the stock repurchase program may be made in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions and may be initiated and discontinued at any time.

The company said that common stock acquired through the program would be available for general corporate purposes. There are currently no specific plans for the shares that may be purchased under the program.

LabCorp is a developer of diagnostic testing technologies and one of the nation’s largest providers of lab testing services. It offers clinical assays ranging from blood analyses to HIV and genomic testing.