Two Orange County-based medical device makers have nabbed nearly $41 million in venture capital investments between them this month.
Laguna Hills-based Vessix Vascular Inc., received $23 million in a second round of financing earlier this month.
Vessix, which was previously called Minnow Medical Inc., will use the money to develop its balloon catheters for treating vessel diseases, including reducing plaque in peripheral leg arteries. A series of multicenter clinical trials are planned.
Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners of Paris led the funding round. Other participants included Fjord Invest LLC in Laguna Hills, OrbiMed Advisors of New York, and Hong Kong-based Dinova Venture Partners.
Vessix is encouraged that its investors and strategic partners have recognized the potential of its technology “and the large patient populations that could benefit from commercialization,” said Chief Executive Raymond Cohen.
Cohen is a veteran Orange County device executive. He previously ran Cardiac Science Inc., which combined with Quinton Cardiology Inc. in 2005 and moved to suburban Seattle.
Irvine-based startup Ellipse Technologies Inc. got its funding in a third round earlier this month.
Ellipse makes minimally invasive treatments for spinal deformities.
It plans to use the $17.6 million from the recent round to bring two of its devices to market. Its main device is Magec, which is designed to treat early onset scoliosis, or a spine curvature, in children. Magec already is approved for sales in Europe.
Ellipse’s other device is Precice, which is used in procedures to lengthen limbs such as shortened legs caused by congenital abnormalities, and for major leg fractures and diseases such as cancer, among others.
HBM BioVentures of Switzerland and BioStar Ventures of Petoskey, Mich., led Ellipse’s new funding. Returning investors included Greenwich, Conn.-based Wexford Capital LP and Irvine-based MedFocus Funds.
MedFocus Funds is headed by Ellipse Chief Executive Michael Henson, a longtime medical device entrepreneur who has founded or served as chief executive, chairman or director for 16 medical device or biotechnology companies.
Sabra Shares Woes
The pummeling that hit shares of Orange County-based nursing home operators after the federal government announced plans to cut Medicare reimbursements also touched Irvine-based Sabra Health Care REIT Inc.
Sabra spun off from Irvine-based nursing home operator Sun Healthcare Group Inc., also in Irvine, last year. It leases the bulk of its 88 nursing homes to Sun.
Sabra saw its stock close down more than 20% on news of an average 11.3% rate cut in Medicare payments for the 12 months starting Oct. 1. That dip, followed by the general sell-off on Wall Street in following days, left Sabra’s market value at about $260 million in recent days.
“The contagion is spreading to all parts of the healthcare sector,” according to an article on the Motley Fool investor website that mentioned the stock hit on healthcare real estate companies such as Sabra and Toledo, Ohio’s Health Care REIT Inc.
The medicare cuts came shortly after Sabra released its second-quarter results.
The company said it posted adjusted funds from operations of $10.3 million during the second quarter, above analysts’ expectations of $8.7 million. Funds from operations are considered a good measure of a real estate investment trust’s strength, offering a more accurate picture of performance than revenue.
Profit for the period totaled $2.1 million.
Sabra’s second-quarter revenue came in at $18.8 million.
The company also issued a full-year outlook that pegged funds from operations at $29.5 million to $30.5 million, with adjusted funds from operations coming in at $36.7 million to $37.7 million.
Analysts expect Sabra to have funds from operations of $34.8 million.
OK for CombiMatrix
CombiMatrix Corp., an Irvine-based diagnostic testing provider, received a clinical laboratory permit from the New York State Department of Health.
The permit allows CombiMatrix to immediately begin collecting specimens for its DNAarray postnatal developmental test, according to the company.
CombiMatrix’s tests provide doctors with a comprehensive genomic evaluation for patients with disorders ranging from autism to various birth defects.
CombiMatrix, which moved its corporate headquarters from the Seattle area to Irvine in 2010, said it now has clinical laboratory licenses from “major states,” including California, Florida, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The company was a unit of Newport Beach patent owner and licenser Acacia Research Corp. before splitting off in 2007.
Bits and Pieces
NextGen Healthcare Information Systems, a Pennsylvania-based subsidiary of Irvine’s Quality Systems Inc., said it is distributing software from Medseek Inc. of Birmingham, Ala., as part of the NextGen enterprise patient portal. The goal of the project is to improve patient-provider communications, including providing patients with ways to manage their own healthcare. … Nanospectra Biosciences Inc., an Irvine-based startup that’s developing a cancer treatment, hired John Stroh as its chief executive. Stroh, who was most recently interim chief executive of Orange County women’s health company CryoFem, replaces J. Don Payne, who is leaving Nanospectra after nine years to pursue other opportunities. … Nutrawise Inc., a maker of beauty and wellness supplements, opened a new headquarters in Tustin.
