Medical Device Link.

Originally Published MX January/February 2005

MILESTONES

Cytyc Corp., a medical device company that designs, develops, manufactures, and markets products focused on women's health, has relocated its corporate headquarters from Boxborough to Marlborough, MA. "Our new headquarters in Marlborough will expand our training, manufacturing, and research and development capabilities," said Patrick J. Sullivan, Cytyc chairman, president, and CEO. "In addition, the new location will provide an improved office environment for employees."

A collaborative research and development agreement has been announced by Medi-photonics Development Co. LLC, a New York subsidiary of Mediscience Technology Corp. (Cherry Hill, NJ), and the Infotonics Technology Center Inc., a not-for-profit consortium that operates New York State's Center of Excellence in Photonics and Microsystems (Rochester). The agreement will focus on developing the Mediscience compact photonic explorer, a swallowable and disposable pill camera that uses ultraviolet light to diagnose the health of living tissues. The product will be commercialized by Mediscience for medical and nonmedical applications. Supporters of New York's photonics consortium include Corning Inc., Eastman Kodak Co., and Xerox Corp.

The VivaTip microwave energy applicator, business end of the VivaWave ablation system by Vivant Medical (Mountain View, CA). (click to enlarge) Photo courtesy VIVANT MEDICAL

In November, Vivant Medical Inc. (Mountain View, CA) and Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center (Winston-Salem, NC) announced completion of an 'ablate and resect' study to determine the effectiveness of microwave ablation for treatment of renal tumors. In the study, Wake Forest used Vivant's VivaWave ablation system, which has received FDA 510(k) clearance for coagulation of soft tissue. Principal investigator for the study was Peter E. Clark, MD, assistant professor in the department of urology at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. "So far, we've been able to perform ablations on 10 patients with the VivaWave system," Clark commented. "The system works efficiently and safely in our hands. We feel this is an exciting new technology that may soon offer our patients another option for the management of solid kidney tumors."

Molecular diagnostics developer XDx Inc. (South San Francisco, CA) closed a $20 million series-D round of private equity financing in mid-December. The round was led by the Sprout Group (New York City), which invested $7 million in the financing. The remaining investments came from new investors Bay Area Equity Fund (managed by JP Morgan), Integral Capital Partners, and Burrill & Co., and existing investors Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and TPG Ventures. In connection with the financing, Sprout Group partner Vijay Lathi has joined the board of XDx. Lathi believes that XDx "will be one of the first to commercialize a gene-expression-based diagnostic with the potential to significantly improve clinical care." XDx president and CEO Pierre Cassigneul said that proceeds of the round would be used to support the company's first commercial launch, which was expected to begin in December 2004, with a larger rollout during the first quarter of 2005.

The Pelikan Sun electronic lancing device by Pelikan Technologies (Palo Alto, CA). (click to enlarge) Photo courtesy PELIKAN TECHNOLOGIES

Pelikan Technologies Inc. (Palo Alto, CA), a developer of products for handheld diagnostics, closed a $29.2 million series-D preferred stock financing with several leading international investors at the end of October. With the closing of the financing, which was led by swissfirst Bank AG (Zurich, Switzerland), Pelikan has now raised $46.2 million since the company was spun off from Agilent Technologies (formerly Hewlett-Packard) in 2001. Current investors include HBM BioVentures, Mannheim Holdings LLC, swissfirst Bank AG, and Heidelberg Innovation. Proceeds from the financing will be used primarily to support commercialization of the company's first product, the FDA-cleared Pelikan Sun electronic lancing device, which is expected to launch in the spring of 2005. Based on the company's 'one-step, one-button' approach, the Sun lancing device is the first fully automated, electronically controlled, self-contained system that enables a patient to execute the entire lancing process at the touch of a button. "We are excited to have achieved this important financial milestone, which will enable Pelikan to broaden the commercialization efforts of the Pelikan Sun product," said company president and CEO Dirk Boecker, MD, PhD. "As important, this new capital will allow us to accelerate the development of our cutting-edge fully integrated lancing and glucose-monitoring device, positioning Pelikan to launch the system in 2007."

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