A Medical Device Daily

Amedica (Salt Lake City) yesterday reported raising $13.2 million in gross proceeds in a private placement of its Series D convertible preferred stock.

With the closing of this round, Amedica has raised more than $44 million since November 2003. Creation Capital served as the placement agent for the financing.

Amedica said it plans to use the proceeds to continue the expansion of its manufacturing facilities for medical ceramics; continue product development; hire additional personnel; to pursue patent protection for its products; and for working capital purposes.

"We are very pleased with the financing which will provide additional resources for us to continue advancing our lead and pipeline products toward commercialization," said Ashok Khandkar, CEO of Amedica.

Amedica is an orthopedic company using its ceramics technologies to develop spine and joint implants.

In other financing news:

• The Ensign Group (Mission Viejo, California) reported that it has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission relating to the proposed initial public offering of its common stock.

The company said it intends to apply for listing of its common stock on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol ENSG.

D.A. Davidson & Co. is acting as sole book-running manager, and Stifel, Nicolaus & Company is acting as co-manager for the proposed offering.

The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the offering have not yet been disclosed.

The Ensign Group is the parent company of the Ensign group of companies, which provide skilled nursing, assisted living and independent living services, as well as physical, occupational and speech therapies and other rehabilitative and healthcare services for both long-term residents and short-stay rehabilitation patients at facilities in California, Arizona, Texas, Washington, Utah and Idaho.

• SensiGen (Ann Arbor, Michigan), a biotechnology company focused on developing gene-based molecular diagnostics, reported that Ann Arbor SPARK, a non-profit organization, has approved a $250,000 investment in SensiGen from the Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund. The funds will be used to help SensiGen establish a new research laboratory in Ann Arbor and to accelerate development of the company's AttoSense molecular diagnostic technology.

• Acrongenomics (Geneva) said it has completed private placement transactions of its common stock with a group of accredited investors for $1,155,000.

Acrongenomics is a publicly traded company that focuses on investing in and commercializing technology platforms concerning the Life Sciences sector.

• pSivida Limited (Perth, Australia) reported that it is repaying in full the convertible note held by Sandell Asset Management (Boston) in a single payment of $13.7million (A$16.5million).

A 30-day irrevocable notice of redemption has been issued to the holder of the company's only other remaining convertible note. With a payment of $880,000 (A$1.1million), as adjusted for any conversions occurring over the next 30 days, pSivida said it will have retired all of its debt.

Last month pSivida reported signing an exclusive worldwide licensing agreement with Pfizer (New York) for ophthalmic applications of the company's leading drug delivery system with development and sales related milestone payments of up to $155million (A$187million) and equity investments of up to $10million (A$12.0 million) (Medical Device Daily, April 5, 2007).

pSivida is a global bio-nanotech company committed to the biomedical sector and the development of drug delivery products.

• ProCure Treatment Centers (Bloomington, Indiana) has secured financing for the construction of the Oklahoma Procure Treatment Center (Oklahoma City), the state's first proton therapy cancer treatment center developed by ProCure and its clinical partners, Radiation Medicine Associates and Radiation Oncology Associates.

ProCure obtained debt financing for the Oklahoma ProCure Treatment Center through two financial institutions, Fortis Bank and KBC Bank. It said that the project is the first of several it plans to build a network of proton beam therapy centers across the U.S. In addition, it said that the Oklahoma ProCure Treatment Center will be the first private-practice, physician-owned center in the country. The 55,000-square-foot facility is scheduled for completion in summer 2009.

ProCure obtained a $35 million equity investment in December 2006 from McClendon Venture Company (Oklahoma City) and several individual investors in Oklahoma City.

• Cutera (Brisbane, California), a leading provider of laser and other light-based aesthetic systems for practitioners worldwide reported that its board has approved a one-year stock repurchase program under which the company is authorized to repurchase up to $15 million worth of shares of its common stock.

Stock repurchases under this program may be made from time to time through open market transactions at prevailing prices or through privately-negotiated transactions, the company said.