BOSTON – Cambridge, Mass.-based Vericel Corp. reported the closing of an underwritten public offering of more than 5.7 million shares of its common stock at a price of $13 per share. The gross proceeds, expected to be about $74.8 million, will be used for general corporate purposes and to expand its business by in-licensing or acquiring assets. BioWorld MedTech caught up with Gerard Michel, chief financial officer and vice president of corporate development of Vericel, at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization's 2018 Conference to learn more about the company's plans.

BOSTON – What are the trends in venture capital funding for digital health? That was the question posed during a session at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization's (BIO) 2018 Conference taking place here this week. "The bottom line is an immense amount of money has gone into this sector over the last five to seven years – well north of $20 billion," noted Wainwright Fishburn Jr., founding partner of Cooley's San Diego office, in kicking off the session.

Last week was busy for Accelmed, a U.S.- and Israel-based investment firm, as it acquired Burlington, Mass.-based Keystone Dental Inc. Specific terms of the agreement were not disclosed. In discussing the transaction with BioWorld MedTech, Uri Geiger, managing partner of Accelmed, could not elaborate on the size of the Keystone deal. However, he did provide some detail about why it represented an attractive target. "I can tell you . . . that Keystone sells in excess of $40 million," he said, adding that it "is the largest transaction in the history of Accelmed."

With an eye toward helping the estimated 1 million people in the U.S. with refractory epilepsy, Mountain View, Calif.-based Neuropace Inc. has launched its next-gen responsive neurostimulator system (RNS), which has a longer battery life and extended memory.