Monitoring product maker Masimo (Irvine, California) has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering of up to $150 million.

Piper Jaffray & Co. and Deutsche Bank Securities are acting as joint book running managers for this offering and, together with Cowen and Company, and Thomas Weisel Partners, are acting as representatives of the underwriters.

The company, whose shares are slated to trade on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol MASI, has also granted the underwriters a 30-day option to acquire a yet to be determined amount of shares if there are any over-allotments.

The company said it intends to use about $15 million to $20 million of the net proceeds from this offering in capital expenditures and deferred cost of sales, primarily representing the placement of equipment under long-term sensor purchase contracts, and about $7.5 million in miscellaneous capital purchases. It said that the remainder of the proceeds will be used for ongoing research and development, sales and marketing activities and increased costs associated with becoming a public company.

Masimo said it believes that the net proceeds from this offering, together with its cash and cash equivalent balances will be sufficient to meet its anticipated cash requirements for at least a year.

The company said in its filing that it believes its success depends, in significant part, on obtaining patent protection for its products and technology.

In 2005, the company settled a six-year lawsuit against Nellcor (Pleasanton, California), in which it claimed that Nellcor was infringing certain of its pulse oximetry signal processing patents. Nellcor paid Masimo $265 million for damages as well as an advance royalty payment of $65 million.

The company invented Masimo Signal Extraction Technology, or Masimo SET, which provides the capabilities of read-through motion and low perfusion pulse oximetry to address the primary limitations of conventional pulse oximetry. Pulse oximetry is the noninvasive measurement of the oxygen saturation level of arterial blood, or the blood that delivers oxygen to the body’s tissues, and pulse rate.

Masimo estimated that the worldwide pulse oximetry market is more than $900 million, the largest component of which is the sale of consumables.

The company said it has incurred net losses attributable to common stockholders in each year from its inception through 2004. Its net losses attributable to common stockholders were about $8.6 million, $15.4 million and $12.3 million in 2002, 2003 and 2004, respectively.

• Spirus Medical (Stoughton, Massachusetts), a developer of diagnostic and therapeutic systems for gastroenterology, urology and gynecology, reported that it has raised $8.5 million in a Series B convertible preferred stock financing.

BioVentures Investors, Point Judith Capital and Village Ventures, along with a group of accredited individual investors, participated in the financing.

“This financing will allow us to continue to commercialize our innovative EAS platform technology for a growing array of applications,” said Steve Tallarida, Spirus Medical president and chairman.

Spirus Medical has developed the Endoluminal Advancement System (EAS) that uses a soft spiral component, fixed on an active, flexible overtube to facilitate a more efficient approach to endoscopy.

In November 2006, the company launched its first two products for colonoscopy; the Endo-Ease Advantage and the longer Endo-Ease Vista. In December 2006, the company received the CE Mark, allowing it to market its colonoscopy products in Europe.

The company also has received 510(k) clearance for its EndoEase Discovery SB product for enteroscopy and will launch that product later this year.

Spirus was incubated and founded in 2005 by STD Med (Stoughton, Massachusetts), a developer of medical technologies.

In other financing activity:

• StageMark (Pittsburgh), a cell analysis company developing research and diagnostic products and services for autoimmune diseases, reported that it had completed a Series B convertible preferred stock financing totaling about $1.6 million in cash and debt conversion. The financing was led by the BioAdvance Ventures, an early-stage venture fund managed by Quaker BioVentures, and the University City Science Center. Previous investors, BlueTree Capital Partners, Innovation Works, Meyer Ventures and the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse, also participated in the offering.

Additionally, the company reported the appointments of Edward Erickson as chairman of the board and interim president/CEO and Lorraine LoPresti, CPA, as VP and CFO.

In conjunction with the financing, the board of directors was expanded to five directors who, in addition to Erickson, are newly elected directors Christopher Starr, VP of investments at the University City Science Center, and Geeta Vemuri, PhD, VP, Quaker BioVentures.