Alsius Corp., an Irvine-based medical device maker, has filed plans for an initial public offering in hopes of raising up to $40 million.
The company, which makes catheters and body temperature monitors, plans to raise money for sales and marketing, manufacturing, research and development and other general purposes, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The offering also gives investors in Alsius a way to cash out. The company has raised $76 million since starting in 1991, including a $9 million round a year ago.
Major shareholders include MPM Capital LP of Cambridge, Mass., a longtime Alsius investor, which owns 34% of the company, according to the filing.
Investors have included ev3 Inc., the Minnesota-based device maker that recently acquired Irvine’s Micro Therapeutics Inc.
RBC Capital Markets Corp., Harris Nesbitt Corp. and Leerink Swann & Co. are underwriting Alsius’ offering.
Alsius has filed to trade under the ticker symbol “ICEY,” a nod to its products used to cool the body temperature of brain-injury patients.
The company’s CoolGuard, a catheter and monitoring station, is used to keep a patient’s temperature below normal after a head injury to prevent further damage to the brain.
CoolGuard circulates cool saline through the blood system and replaces ice packs and cooling blankets.
Alsius also makes catheters.
The products have Food and Drug Administration approval for use in controlling fevers and cooling body temperature. The company is looking to get regulatory clearance to use the items to treat heart attack victims.
Alsius isn’t profitable. The company’s revenue is growing, but operating losses have held steady for the past few years.
In 2005, Alsius’ sales doubled to $3.2 million. Operating losses were $9.8 million, up from $8.4 million in 2004.
The company’s operating loss in 2003 was $8.8 million.
Alsius’ net loss was $10.1 million last year.
In the filing, the company said it had accumulated losses of $58.4 million from 1991 to 2005.
The company started selling CoolGuard in the U.S. in 2004.
In the filing, the device maker said it’s placed some 230 systems in 140 hospitals worldwide as of March 31.
CoolGuards sell for $28,500 per unit. Catheters, which are used just once, go for $550 to $1,250.
International sales made up 60% of the company’s revenue last year.
Alsius started in 1991 under the name Neuroperfusion Inc. and switched to Alsius in 1998. It has 60 workers. Besides its Laguna Canyon Road corporate headquarters, Alsius has a European service center in the Netherlands.
In an interview a few years ago, Chief Executive William Worthen said Alsius kept a low profile to avoid tipping off rivals: “We’ve proceeded with militaristic secrecy,” he said.
