A Medical Device Daily

Aurora Imaging Technology (North Andover, Massachusetts) reported completing a $3 million Series B preferred stock offering and concurrently converting about $7.7 million of existing debt into Series A preferred stock and common stock resulting in an increase in equity of around $10.7 million. The equity funding and debt conversion were led by existing shareholders.

“Breast MRI continues to gain acceptance as an invaluable tool in the detection, diagnosis and management of breast disease, and Aurora, as the developer and manufacturer of the only MRI system commercially available that is designed specifically and only for breast imaging, is continually building its installed base and attracting a growing list of prospective users,“ said Olivia Cheng, CEO and president.

She said the funds would be used to increase the company's marketing and sales efforts, along with expanding manufacturing capacity, adding, “We expect that funds from this equity offering will carry us through to sustained profitability.“

VirtualScopics (Rochester, New York), a developer of image-related biomarkers as well as a provider of imaging solutions using biomarkers for pharmaceutical development, reported that an affiliate of Loeb Partners exercised 100% of the warrants received in an initial investment in VirtualScopics, raising $1.4 million dollars for the company.

VirtualScopics said the proceeds would go to support sale and marketing and continue development of additional products. The new funds brought the company's cash position at year-end 2004 to about $3.5 million.

VirtualScopics employs a suite of image analysis algorithms to analyze specific biological structures from medical image data, such as computed tomography or MRI scans. It says that its computer-assisted analysis “enables faster and more reliable detection of disease progression or therapeutic benefit, accelerating the clinical trial process, and providing a basis for future diagnostic applications.“

In other financing activity:

• CryoFluor Therapeutics (Irvine, California), a company developing cryosurgical technology, reported receiving a second investment — the amount undisclosed — allowing it “to complete a feasibility clinical trial of its device to treat abnormal uterine bleeding,“ it said. Research Corporation Technologies (RCT; Tucson, Arizona), Endocare (also Irvine) and Temple University (Philadelphia) participated in the investment.

The CryoFluor technology uses uncontained, fluid perfluorochemicals as the cryogenic medium. The liquid cryogenic technology performs rapid, controllable tissue cryoablation, according to CryoFluor, overcoming the limitations of conventional probe-based cryosurgery devices and creating access “to a variety of new minimally invasive surgeries.“

CryoFluor has reported completing engineering and related preclinical activities for its first product, a device to treat abnormal uterine bleeding. Endocare, a cryosurgical company, has invested in the development of the ablation device and said it is providing engineering, fabrication, manufacturing, regulatory documentation and oversight, clinical oversight and marketing strategy support.

For the next 15 months, CryoFluor said, it will focus on final production of clinical units, a clinical trial in Germany to determine safety and feasibility; and preparations for a pivotal clinical trial in the U.S. It said it also plans to expand the platform capacity of the technology by demonstrating proof of principle in one or more additional indications.

“This investment will help CryoFluor complete a clinical trial of our lead device for endometrial ablation and provide clinical proof of the superiority of our technology to treat this condition,“ said David Jackson, PhD, president and chief operating officer.

Jackson said the data from that trial “will allow the company to conduct a multi-center trial in the U.S. so we can bring improved care to patients with abnormal uterine bleeding.“

RCT, a technology investment firm, formed CryoFluor with Temple University to develop the work of Temple researchers Thomas Shaffer, PhD; Marla Wolfson, PhD; and Robert Stern, PhD.

• Caliper Life Sciences (Hopkinton, Massachusetts) and Predicant Biosciences (South San Francisco, California) reported entering into an agreement under which Predicant has non-exclusively licensed a major portion of Caliper's microfluidics patent estate for use with Predicant's technology for the analysis of proteins using mass spectrometry. The agreement covers all of Caliper's intellectual property assets relevant to Predicant's product development efforts. Financial details were not disclosed.

Predicant is using microfluidics as a core technology for the company's proteomic tests, designed to identify complex protein patterns in blood as a means of diagnosing and monitoring disease. The company said it has chosen microfluidics because this approach enables sample processing more rapidly and more reproducibly than traditional separation techniques.

Caliper Life Sciences uses its liquid-handling and LabChip technologies to accelerate drug discovery, enable diagnosis of disease and facilitate scientific research.