Kicking off the initial public offering (IPO) festivites in medical technology for the new year, CardioMEMS (Atlanta), a startup company developing medical devices for use in monitoring heart patients, reported that it is seeking to raise more than $86 million, with all of the shares in the proposed offering are being sold by the company.

The underwriters of the offering will be Banc of America Securities as sole book-running manager, CIBC World Markets as co-lead manager, and Jefferies & Company and Pacific Growth Equities as co-managers.

The company hopes to trade on the NASDAQ under the symbol SENS.

The company’s first commercial device, the EndoSure Wireless AAA pressure measurement system — or EndoSure system — is comprised of an implanted sensor and an external electronics module. The sensor is inserted during the minimally invasive cardiovascular repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA), via a catheter into a patient’s aneurysm sac to measure and communicate pressure information to an external electronics module from inside the sac.

Since a goal of the endovascular AAA repair procedure is to eliminate or minimize pressure on the walls of the sac, the company believes the EndoSure sensor is a valuable tool in helping a physician to determine during the procedure if the AAA has been adequately repaired.

The EndoSure system was cleared by the FDA in October 2005 for measuring intrasac pressure during endovascular AAA repair and is used alongside traditional angiography.

The FDA clearance, however, does not allow the company to promote the EndoSure system as a replacement for traditional angiography or for measuring pressure after the procedure. The company said it plans on conducting clinical trials to seek FDA clearance for measuring pressure after the procedure.

CardioMEMS said it is adapting the EndoSure system for use in patients with heart failure and in patients with hypertension. The heart failure and hypertension sensors are further miniaturized versions of the EndoSure sensor that use the same materials, manufacturing methods and operational concepts as the EndoSure AAA sensor.

The IPO offering comes after a strong close for 2006 for the company. In November, CardioMEMS closed on $22.6 million in venture capital. Nearly half the total came from Arcapita Ventures. The company, which is based at the Georgia Tech Advanced Technology Development Center (Atlanta), reports that it has raised more than $50 million in venture capital since its 2001 launch.

In December, the company said that two of its wireless sensors for monitoring hearts had been successfully implanted in two human patients.

In November 2005, the company entered into a license and development agreement with Medtronic (Minneapolis) as well as a related supply agreement, to adapt the sensor technology for use as a wired pressure sensor system capable of working with Medtronic’s implantable devices to address impaired cardiac function, hypertension, or both.

Medtronic is funding the efforts under this joint development program through a series of milestone payments totaling $3 million. CardioMEMS also is entitled to receive royalties on sales of Medtronic devices incorporating its technology, subject to the terms of the license agreement including a cumulative royalty cap of $25 million. Medtronic is a 15.1% stakeholder in the company.

Endosure noted that it has incurred net losses in each year since its inception in 2000, including losses of $3.3 million in 2003, $5.1 million in 2004, $8.8 million in 2005 and $13.3 million in the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2006.

In other financing news:

• Matritech (Newton, Massachusetts), a developer of protein-based diagnostic products for the detection of cancer, reported closing a $4.36 million private placement of Series B 15% secured convertible promissory notes maturing Dec. 13, 2007, and warrants to purchase 4,157,143 shares of common stock of the company.

Matritech said the net proceeds from the financing are about $3.8 million.

Current investors SDS Capital Group, H&Q Life Science Investors and various ProMed funds were participants in the financing.

Matritech said it will use the proceeds for R&D, selling and marketing expenses, working capital and for general corporate purposes.

Stephen Chubb, CEO and chairman of Matritech, said, “The new financing affords Matritech the opportunity to continue the momentum we have developed in the sales of our NMP22 BladderChek Test.”

The notes are convertible into 6,928,572 shares of common stock and allow for payment of interest and principal in cash or by issuing common stock. The warrants have an exercise price of 63 cents a share and are exercisable for five years.

Until stockholder approval of certain provisions in the notes and warrants, stock issuances under the notes and warrants may not be made at an effective conversion price below 63 cents. Matritech also has issued to the placement agent in the financing a warrant to purchase 55,556 shares of common stock at 76 cents a share exercisable for five years.

Chubb said the company would give a 2007 outlook report, along with its report of its full-year 2006 results, on Feb. 6.

The company also reported that its board has been expanded to 11 members and that David Musket and Robert Rosenthal, PhD, were elected to its board of on Jan. 22.

The company’s first two products, the NMP22 Test Kit and NMP22 BladderChek Test, are FDA-approved for the monitoring and diagnosis of bladder cancer.

• Neuroptix (Acton, Massachusetts), developer of a non-invasive laser eye scanning for the early detection of Alzheimer’s, reported closing a Series A funding round of $1.6 million.

The company said that the investment, led by Launchpad Venture Group, will support development of the Neuroptix QEL platform and diagnostic agents. Neuroptix said its technology has demonstrated preclinical predictive diagnostic results. The system consists of a laser eye scanning device combined with an eye drop which specifically identifies Alzheimer’s-related proteins found in the lens of the eye.

Founded in 2001, Neuroptix develops products for extremely sensitive measurements of biophysical changes in the eye. The company is also developing diagnostic agents for application in screening tests for Alzheimer’s disease and prion diseases.