Diagnostics & Imaging Week
and D&IWs

Predictive Biosciences (Lexington, Massachusetts) a developer of diagnostics for cancer management, reported securing $10 million in Series A financing. Highland Capital Partners and IDG Ventures Boston co-led the investment in the company, which was jointly founded this year by the investors, entrepreneurs and scientists.

Predictive Bio said it working on biomarker and assay technology intended for accurate, real-time cancer diagnostics. The company said it wants to design biomarkers that enable "informed cancer management."

"What we mean by informed cancer management is really delivering the information that physicians need at the time that they need it to be able to make the best decisions for their patients," Eugene Chiu, a company co-founder and VP of business development, told Diagnostics & Imaging Week.

"Predictive Biosciences is leading a new era in molecular diagnostics and personalized medicine," Chiu said. "We have an extensive proprietary and in-licensed IP portfolio from Children's Hospital Boston and its collaborating institutions, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston). With this exceptional scientific foundation, outstanding scientific founders, and an experienced team, Predictive Biosciences has attracted substantial initial funding to build breakthrough products for significant commercial opportunities."

Highland's Paul Maeder and IDG Ventures' Michael Greeley will become members of the company's board.

Greeley said, "Predictive Biosciences' products enable physicians to provide patients with timelier, personalized cancer treatment, which will result in improved patient outcomes and lower healthcare costs. We are thrilled to back the commercialization of revolutionary biomarkers from the labs of Dr. Marsha Moses and Dr. Bruce Zetter, world class scientists and senior principal investigators in the Children's Hospital Boston Vascular Biology Program, whose director is Dr. Judah Folkman."

IDG Ventures Boston invests in early-stage information technology and life sciences companies.

LifeWatch (Buffalo Grove, Illinois) reported that it has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed initial public offering of its common stock up to a maximum aggregate of $86.25 million.

All of the shares of common stock will be newly issued shares offered by the company. The number of shares to be offered and the price range on the proposed offering have not yet been determined.

LifeWatch said it plans to use the proceeds to repay about $27.6 million of its outstanding debt, to launch and market services for the LifeStar ACT cardiac event monitoring device and for other corporate purposes.

It is expected that LifeWatch's parent company, Card Guard (Rehovot, Israel), through its subsidiaries, will continue to be the majority stockholder of LifeWatch after completion of the offering.

LifeWatch is a provider of ambulatory cardiac monitoring services and a manufacturer and distributor of ambulatory cardiac monitoring devices in the U.S. Its current services are used by physicians in the U.S. primarily to monitor electrocardiographic data for patients who are suspected of having heart rhythm disorders, or cardiac arrhythmias, and its products are used by itself and by others in connection with providing cardiac monitoring services.

In other financing news:

• Beckman Coulter (Fullerton, California) reported that the initial purchasers of its 2.5% convertible senior notes due 2036 have exercised in full their over-allotment option to purchase an additional $75 million aggregate principal amount of notes. Including the sale of the additional notes — scheduled to close tomorrow — the aggregate principal amount of notes sold by Beckman Coulter in the offering will be $600 million.

The company estimated that the net proceeds from this offering will be about $586 million after deducting discounts, commissions and estimated expenses associated with the offering.

The company said it would use about $100 million of the net proceeds to repurchase shares of its common stock; about $245 million to consummate the tender offer for any and all of its outstanding 7.45% senior notes due 2008; and about $185 million to repay the bridge facility it entered into in connection with its October acquisition of Lumigen (Southfield, Michigan).

The remainder of the proceeds will be used to reduce amounts outstanding under the company's revolving credit facility.

The purpose of the offering is to reduce Beckman Coulter's interest expense in order to fund additional R&D activities, including its molecular diagnostics project.

• AFP Imaging (Elmsford, New York) reported that its board has authorized the company to repurchase up to $1 million of its outstanding common stock in open market purchases or privately negotiated transactions. The company said that any repurchases are intended to make appropriate adjustments to the company's capital structure and are for general corporate purposes.

The company has 12,428,800 shares of common stock outstanding as of Dec. 12, The share repurchases will be financed by currently available cash.

AFP Imaging makes a range of X-ray imaging equipment, which has particular applications in dental, veterinary and medical diagnostics.