A Medical Device Daily

Immucor (Norcross, Georgia), a developer of automated instrument-reagent systems for the blood transfusion industry, reported an agreement to settle a class action lawsuit against it and certain of its current and former directors and officers, Immucor, Inc. Securities Litigation, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

The company's insurance carrier has agreed to pay $2.5 million to the plaintiff class in consideration of a release of all claims against the company and the individual defendants. The company said that the only costs to it are legal expenses.

The lawsuit alleges that Immucor stock prices were inflated during part of 2004 and 2005 as a result of material misrepresentations or omissions in the company's financial statements and other public reports.

The company denies any liability or wrongdoing and said it has vigorously defended the lawsuits.

The court has given its preliminary approval to the settlement, which is contingent upon final approval by the court after notice to the class and a hearing scheduled for Sept. 20. The company said that it is not certain the settlement will receive final approval from the court nor will be upheld, if challenged on appeal.

In other court action: Global Med Technologies (Denver) reported that the Superior Court in the State of California has returned Global Med's $1.004 million summary judgment deposit.

The company said that the return of the deposit, plus additional accrued interest of $80,000, increases its cash balance by $1.084 million.

The deposit to the Superior Court was made on Sept. 1, 2005, and was required in order for Global Med to proceed with its appeal in the lawsuit against Donnie Jackson (Global Med Technologies, Inc. et al. v. Jackson). The case now has been remanded for trial as directed in the Appellate Court's opinion.

Jackson was a former employee of the company and is a current employee or was a former employee of Mediware Information Systems (Lenexa, Kansas).

A judgment in favor of Jackson was entered in October 2004 on all claims in an underlying lawsuit, which alleged that he violated his former employment agreements with Global Med by misappropriating trade secrets and disclosing confidential information.

Two months later, Jackson and Mediware filed suit against Global Med seeking reimbursement of their costs of defense.

Mediware CEO and chairman, Michael Ruxin, MD, said, "We are very satisfied with the outcome of this ruling. The return of $1.084 million from the Superior Court further strengthens the company's financial position. The company now has over $4.5 million in cash … a significant increase from the $2.554 million in cash as of December 31, 2006, and the $3.013 million in cash as of March 31, 2007."

Global Med provides information management software products and services to healthcare. Its Wyndgate Technologies (Denver) division is a supplier of information management systems to U.S. and international blood centers and hospital transfusion centers.

Financings roundup

Cambridge Heart in share resale; Axis Three gathers new funding

A Medical Device Daily

As outlined in an earlier report to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Cambridge Heart (Bedford, Massachusetts) has filed a registration statement with the SEC for the resale of shares of common stock issuable upon conversion of the 5,000 shares of Series C preferred stock acquired by St. Jude Medical (St. Paul, Minnesota) in connection with a co-marketing agreement between the companies (Medical Device Daily, March 27, 2007).

St. Jude will be responsible for marketing the company's HearTwave II Microvolt T-Wave Alternans System and sensors to cardiologists and electrophysiologists in North America.

As part of that agreement, St. Jude purchased $12.5 million of preferred stock in Cambridge Heart, convertible into common stock at $2.99 a share.

St. Jude will market and sell the system to cardiologists and electrophysiologists in North America, and Cambridge Heart will manage the installation of systems, customer training servicing. The agreement covers North America only.

Cambridge Heart develops products for the non-invasive diagnosis of cardiac disease, particularly the identification of those at risk of sudden cardiac arrest.

Axis Three (Los Angeles), a developer of surgical simulation tools for the medical industry, reported that it has recently secured additional funding of between $1.8 million and $2 million and that it has added two new executives to its management team.

David Kirk has joined Axis Three as VP of corporate strategy and Pedram Hariri has joined the company as director of sales and business development.

The company also reported beta launch of its XS-300 surgical simulation platform. The company said the product was developed in collaboration with plastic and reconstructive surgeons and will shortly be tested in U.S. and European practices.

Jim Blumel, CEO of Axis Three, said that the XS-300 surgical simulation platform "provides precise surgical simulation and represents a paradigm shift in the surgeon-patient experience. We collaborated with plastic and reconstructive surgeons to develop an intuitive system that provides accurate measurement data, surgical planning tools, and a better experience for both the surgeon and patient."

Through a licensing agreement, Axis Three has integrated image capture technology developed by Siemens Medical Solutions (Malvern, Pennsylvania) with its own software to create a platform that it says can be tailored to various surgical needs.

In other financing news: WorldHeart (Oakland, California) reported its board has approved a 1-for-10 ratio for the previously authorized reverse split of WorldHeart common shares.

The reverse split was approved by shareholders at the last annual shareholders meeting held on Dec. 20, 2006. The split will be effective on May 30 when WorldHeart files an amendment to its articles with Canadian authorities.

Completion of the reverse split is intended to allow WorldHeart to keep its listing on the NASDAQ Capital Market, subject to compliance with all other listing requirements.

As a result of the reverse split, every 10 common shares of WorldHeart will be combined into one common share. Upon exercise of any options or warrants, resulting shares issued will be issued on a post-consolidation basis. No scrip or fractional certificates will be issued in connection with the reverse split.

WorldHeart is a developer of mechanical circulatory support systems.