A few more med techs have lined up for initial public offerings that could happen in 2015. Catheter-based peripheral artery disease (PAD) treatment company Avinger filed with the SEC to raise up to $69 million, while molecular diagnostics player HTG Molecular Diagnostics filed to raise up to $60 million. In addition, orthopedic regenerative medicine player CollPlant is reportedly seeking a listing on a U.S. market; it is already listed publicly in Israel.
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| Avinger CEO John Simpson |
Avinger would use the IPO financing to support an ongoing pivotal trial of its Pantheris, which it said is the only technology to provide real-time visualization of the inside of the artery while surgically removing arterial plaque for PAD patients.
The company started enrollment for a pivotal trial for the Pantheris atherectomy device during the third quarter of 2014. It expects to complete that trial and submit for FDA clearance based upon it during the second half of 2015.
The startup already markets its Lightbox imaging console, in addition to its Wildcat, KittyCat and Ocelot family of catheters that are designed to penetrate arterial blockages known as chronic total occlusions. It reported $8.1 million in revenues for the first 9 months of 2014, which was down from $9.6 million during the same period a year prior.
Avinger had accumulated a deficit of $138.4 million by Sept. 30 since its 2007 inception, including $23.8 million during the first 9 months of 2014 alone. Investors include Lucas Venture Group. It also owes $21.4 million to PDL Biopharma under a credit facility.
As for HTG Molecular, it would use an IPO to finance the further commercialization and development of its HTG Edge platform, which it believes has "workflow and performance advantages in molecular profiling applications including tumor profiling, molecular diagnostic testing and biomarker development," according to its SEC filing. The company recently launched an extension of that platform, HTG EdgeSeq, which incorporates next-generation sequencing.
The startup markets 7 molecular profiling panels to about 40 customers focused on translational research and biopharma companion diagnostics in areas including immuno-oncology.
HTG had $2 million in revenues during the first 9 months of 2014, with an operating loss of $9.5 million during that period. Since its 1997 inception through Sept. 30, the startup had raised $52.9 million in equity, $6.6 in grants and $10.7 million in debt. In August, it got an $11 million loan from Oxford Finance and Silicon Valley Bank with a second tranche of $5 million available through mid-2016.
Its major investor roster includes a couple of strategic players and consists of Novo A/S (24.8% pre-IPO stake), GlaxoSmithKline's ($GSK) venture capital arm S.R. One (19.6%), Fletcher Spaght Ventures (12.3%), Solstice Capital (6.1%) and Valley Ventures (5.9%).
Finally, Israeli med tech CollPlant Holdings told Reuters that it is planning to sell its American Depository Receipts (ADRs) in the U.S. The company went public on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange in 2010 through a reverse merger. CollPlant markets wound care and orthopedics scaffolds that are based upon its virgin collagen, Collage, which is derived from plants. This offers the first plant-derived source of type I recombinant human collagen, according to the company.
- here are the SEC filings for Avinger and HTG
- and the Reuters story on CollPlant