A Medical Device Daily

Acacia Research (Newport Beach, California) reported that is has obtained commitments to buy $5 million of its Acacia Research-CombiMatrix common stock and warrants in a registered direct offering.

Acacia comprises two operating groups: Acacia Technologies Group and CombiMatrix Group.

Acacia will sell about 6.8 million units for about 74 cents a unit to a select group of investors. Participants in this financing included Amit Kumar, PhD, president/CEO of CombiMatrix (Seattle), Tom Akin and John Abeles, MD, directors of CombiMatrix. Each unit will consist of one share of Acacia Research-CombiMatrix common stock and a five-year warrant for the purchase of 1.5 shares of stock at an exercise price of 55 cents a share.

"This financing strengthens our balance sheet as we split-off from Acacia, and it provides additional capital to fund our expansion in the molecular diagnostics market," Kumar said.

The CombiMatrix group is developing a platform technology to rapidly produce tailored-content arrays, which are semiconductor-based tools for use in identifying and determining the roles of genes, gene mutations and proteins. The CombiMatrix group's technology has a wide range of potential applications in the areas of genomics, proteomics, biosensors, drug discovery, drug development, diagnostics, combinatorial chemistry, material sciences and nanotechnology, the company said.

In other financing news:

• AMDL (Tustin, California), a developer of tests for the early detection of cancer and other diseases, reported first closing of its combined Regulation D/Regulation S private unit offering of up to 2 million shares of common stock and warrants to buy 1 million shares of common stock, generating proceeds of nearly $3.79 million, exclusive of placement fees and expenses of about $492,600.

The first closing consisted of 1,443,620 shares of AMDL common stock at $2.625 a share, and three and one-half year warrants to buy another 721,810 shares, exercisable at $3.86 a share. Warrants to purchase another 144,362 shares were issued to the placement agents at the same price.

The offering will continue until units for up to another 556,380 shares and warrants to purchase another 278,190 shares have been sold or the offering is terminated.

AMDL has operations in Shenzhen, Jaingxi and Jilin, China, through its subsidiary Jade Pharmaceutical.

• MBF Healthcare Acquisition (Coral Gables, Florida) reported today the full exercise of the over-allotment option relating to its initial public offering for an additional 2,812,500 units. The 21,562,500 units sold in the IPO, including the 2,812,500 units sold in accordance with the over-allotment option, were sold at an offering price of $8 a unit, generating total gross proceeds of $172.5 million. Prior to the IPO, MBF Healthcare Partners, the founding stockholder of the company, bought in a private placement, 343,750 units for $8 a unit and 4.25 million warrants for $1 per warrant, for an aggregate purchase price of $7 million, resulting in total gross proceeds of $179.5 million. Of this amount, $170,962,500, or roughly $7.93 a unit, has been placed in trust.

MBF is a blank check company formed for the purpose of acquiring, through a merger, capital stock exchange, stock purchase, asset acquisition or other similar business combination, one or more operating businesses in the healthcare industry.

• The Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania (BFTP/NEP; Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania) board approved investments of $428,500 in four Pennsylvania companies. BFTP/NEP is a state-funded economic development organization that links early-stage companies and established manufacturers with experts, universities, funding, and other resources to help them prosper through innovation.

The investment includes a $150,000 investment in In Silico Scientifics (Bethlehem, Pennsylvania).

• Lifeline Biotechnologies (Reno, Nevada) reported that it has set the record date for its exchange program for preferred stock for common shares as May 21. To take advantage of the exchange, shareholders must submit their common shares to Lifeline's Transfer Agent, OTC Corporate Stock Transfer (Jericho, New York), by May 31.

The exchange is for one share of preferred stock, valued at $1 each for each 1,600 shares of common stock submitted. The value of the common stock is $.000625 a share, a premium over the current market price. To qualify for the exchange, shareholders must submit a minimum of 100,000 common shares. The Series B preferred stock is valued at $1 a share for future conversion purposes.

Lifeline recently reacquired the First Warning System from Solos Endoscopy (Boston) (Medical Device Daily, March 8, 2007), which it had sold in 2006. The company said it would focus on completing the development of the First Warning System, designed to assist in the early detection of breast cancer.