TranS1 (Wilmington, North Carolina), a companythat develops products that implement a minimally invasive surgical approach to treat degenerative disc disease affecting the lower lumbar region of the spine, reported the price range and amount of shares for its previously disclosed initial public offering (Medical Device Daily, July 26, 2007).

In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, the company reported that it is offering 5.5 million shares of its common stock for an expected price of between $12 and $14 per share for proceeds of about $64.5 million before expenses at the midpoint price of $13.

The company has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 825,000 shares. The underwriters for the offering are Lehman Brothers, Piper Jaffray & Co. Cowen and Co. and Wachovia Capital Markets.

If the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares is exercised in full at the $13 midpoint price, the company estimated that it will receive net proceeds of about $74.5 million.

The company estimated that its expenses for the offering will be about $2 million, excluding underwriting discounts and commissions.

The company said it expects to use about $30 million of the net proceeds from the offering for sales and marketing initiatives to support the commercialization of its existing and any future products; and $10 million to support its research and development activities, clinical trials and obtaining necessary regulatory approvals.

It said it intends to use the remainder of the net proceeds from this offering for capital expenditures, working capital and general corporate purposes.

In 2005 the company reported U.S. market release of its Axial Lumbar Interbody Fusion (AxiaLIF) system. The AxiaLIF system, which receved FDA 510(k) clearance in December 2004, was touted as the least-invasive approach to lumbar fusion and dramatically reduces patient recovery time in comparison to traditional lumbar fusion procedures, the company said at the time (MDD, Feb. 2, 2005).

The company said it has a limited operating history and has incurred net losses since its inception. Through March 31 the company had an accumulated deficit of $24 million.

The company has applied to have its stock traded on The NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol TSON.

In other financing news:

• TriReme Medical (TMI; Pleasanton, California), a developer of stents and stent delivery systems for vascular lesions at or near bifurcations, reported the successful completion of its $15.6 million Series C financing led by Three Arch Partners and completed by Adams Street Partners.

The company said the funds will be used to continue the development of its novel stent system and to support ongoing clinical studies.

Joining the company’s board as part of the financing will be Mark Wan of Three Arch Partners and Michael Lynn, MD, of Adams Street Partners.

TMI said its stent technology may be useful in more than 25% of the 2.2 million angioplasty procedures performed annually worldwide. Its technology is designed to provide the interventional cardiologist with the ease of use, high deliverability and low profile of a main vessel stent in a device that is designed to effectively scaffold the ostium, or the junction of main and side branches in a coronary vessel. The company said its system has a lower profile than standard bifurcation stent systems and even some of the leading workhorse drug eluting stents used for routine, non-bifurcated lesions. Additionally, the delivery system is the only one that allows the physician to actively determine the orientation of the stent prior to deployment and ensure precise stent positioning.

• Rules-Based Medicine (RBM; Austin, Texas), a multiplexed biomarker testing laboratory, reported that it has raised $25 million in private financing.

Equity Group Investments (EGI) led the Series A investment round. EGI was joined by Cross Creek Capital, the private equity affiliate of Wasatch Advisors and Stephens Capital Partners.

RBM said the financing will provide growth capital, debt repayment and funding for acquisitions and investments to discover and validate biomarkers for medical diagnostics.

In conjunction with the funding, RBM also reported that Matt Zell, managing director of EGI, has joined its board.

“With this funding in hand we can continue our aggressive growth in the clinical trials services business, while accelerating our development of diagnostic services and kits,” said T. Craig Benson, CEO of Rules-Based Medicine.

RBM provides protein biomarker products and services based on its Multi-Analyte Profiling technology platform.

• Highlands Acquisition Corp. (New York) reported that the underwriters for its IPO have exercised in full their over-allotment option. As a result, the company sold an additional 1.8 million units with each unit consisting of one share of common stock and one warrant to purchase one share of common stock. The 1.8 million units were sold at a price of $1 per unit, generating total gross proceeds of $18 million. Of this amount, $17,280,000 (or about $9.60 per unit) has been placed in trust, including $540,000 of deferred underwriters discounts and commissions.

Highlands also reported that, beginning today, the holders of the company’s units may elect to separately trade the common stock and warrants included in the company’s units. The common stock and warrants will be quoted on the American Stock Exchange under the symbols HIA and HIA.WS, respectively. Units not separated will continue to trade on the American Stock Exchange under the symbol HIA.U.

Last week, the company reported that it had completed its IPO of 12 million units, generating gross proceeds of $120 million (MDD, Oct. 11, 2007).

Highlands Acquisition Corp. is a newly organized blank check company formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, stock purchase, asset acquisition or other similar business combination with one or more operating businesses. The company’s efforts in identifying a prospective target business will not be limited to a particular industry, although it initially intends to focus its search for a target business in the healthcare industry.