A Medical Device Daily

Elron Electronic Industries (Tel Aviv, Israel) reported a new investment of about $2.9 million in Nulens, an Israeli company operating in the field of intraocular lenses (IOLs), mainly for cataract and presbyopia procedures.

The investment will be in two installments and, following its completion, Elron will hold around 25% of Nulens on a fully diluted basis.

Nulens is developing what it terms as “a fully accommodative” IOL and said it is currently conducting pre-clinical trials of the product.

Doron Birger, Elron’s president and CEO, said that the new funding “is consistent with our strategy of new investments in companies with innovative technologies [providing] new paradigms in their industry . . . Nulens has the potential to become a major company that will create significant value for its shareholders.”

Elron Electronic is a multinational high-tech holding company.

In other financing activity:

PharmaStem Therapeutics (Wayne, Pennsylvania) said it has entered into an agreement in which the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center (Houston) has obtained a license to PharmaStem patents for the storage and use of umbilical cord blood. M.D. Anderson has acquired the rights to use technology claimed in five PharmaStem U.S. patents (nos. 5,004,681, 5,192,553, 6,461,645, 6,569,427 and 6,605,275).

Nicholas Didier, president and CEO of PharmaStem, said the agreement recognizes “the ever-increasing importance of umbilical cord blood to the treatment of cancer patients.”

M.D. Anderson says that its blood and marrow transplantation program is one of the largest in the world in this sector.

PharmaStem is the successor to Biocyte, terming itself “the pioneer in the development of umbilical cord blood preservation and its therapeutic use.”

Respironics (Murrysville, Pennsylvania) reported that its board has approved a 2-for-1 stock split, payable to shareholders of record on May 9, in the form of one additional share for each share owned. The additional shares will be distributed to shareholders on or about June 1.

John Miclot, president and CEO, said that the stock split reflects the board’s “commitment to make our shares accessible to a broad spectrum of investors.” As of March 31, Respironics had issued and outstanding about 35.8 million shares, and the split will give it about 71.6 million shares.

Respironics provides products and programs for the sleep and respiratory markets, selling in more than 125 countries.