One of Orange County’s newest public companies got a boost late last month.
Shares of Aliso Viejo-based SenoRx Inc. jumped more than 13% on the day the Food and Drug Administration approved its new breast cancer treatment.
SenoRx, which went public in late March in a $45 million offering, received approval for its Multi-Lumen Radiation Balloon Applicator, which treats breast cancer.
The company’s shares soared as much as 20% the day of the news before settling down some.
Multi-Lumen uses brachytherapy, which places radiation inside or near the source of cancer.
Regulators cleared Multi-Lumen for use following lumpectomies,where a cancerous lump is removed.
SenoRx expects to start selling Multi-Lumen in early 2008.
Marlborough, Mass.-based Cytyc Corp. also has a medical device for brachytherapy following breast cancer surgery called the Mammosite.
BioLucent Inc. of Aliso Viejo received FDA approval for Savi, a multi-catheter brachytherapy device, in 2006. BioLucent’s device is in what’s called a “controlled market launch.”
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Alliance Imaging truck: former majority owner sold additional 1.44 million shares |
The Multi-Lumen approval came earlier than expected, according to Jason Mills, an analyst with Canaccord Adams.
“This is a positive event and frankly a favorable timing of the event,” Mills told Reuters.
SenoRx’s Multi-Lumen is expected to give better results with more precise radiation dosages than Mammosite, according to Mills.
“The Multi-Lumen device from SenoRx offers some potential advantages, but that remains to be seen as it has not been commercialized yet,” he said.
Mills pegged the market opportunity for the device at $350 million or more yearly, of which Cytyc is estimated to have about 5%.
Silicone Surge
Silicone breast implants, back on the American market after a nearly 15-year absence, could be gaining ground, according to a survey from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.
Allergan Inc. of Irvine is a player in silicone implants, thanks to its $3.2 billion buy of Inamed Corp. last year.
The survey found that about half of the society’s member surgeons predict they will perform up to 25% more breast implants in the next 12 months. And 40% or more of all patients could choose silicone implants, they said.
Participants agreed that the implants are safe. But many think some of their patients still may have concerns about their safety,45% of members said their patients’ safety concerns might be a significant barrier.
On the other hand, 60% of the surgeons believed that cost would be the most significant barrier that prevents some women from choosing silicone implants.
The FDA banned silicone breast implants for the vast majority of American women in 1992 after an outcry over patient safety.
It reversed the ban last November and allowed implants back in the wider market.
Overall, the survey found breast augmentations were up 13% in 2006 from 2005. Some 70% of plastic surgeons performed, on average, more than five breast procedures a month.
Alliance Share Sale
Alliance Imaging Inc., an Anaheim provider of medical diagnostic scanning services, said last month that Viewer Holdings LLC, a fund controlled by an affiliate of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts LLC, sold 1.44 million of its shares. Alliance Imaging didn’t receive any proceeds from the transaction.
KKR was Alliance’s majority shareholder for seven years. In March, funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management LLC of Los Angeles and New York-based MTS Health Investors LLC bought about 24.9 million shares, or a combined 49.7% stake, from KKR for $153.1 million.
Alliance has nearly 500 mobile and imaging centers in 43 states.
Paul Viviano, Alliance’s chief executive, and Howard Aihara, its chief financial officer, recently presented a company update at the Citigroup 2007 Healthcare Conference in New York.
Bits and Pieces:
TriZetto Group Inc., a Newport Beach healthcare technology company, said Chief Financial Officer James Malone plans to leave to become chief financial officer of Misys PLC, a London-based software and services company. Malone, 57, will leave TriZetto this month. TriZetto said it has started a search for Malone’s replacement and will consider internal and external candidates A group that includes the California Nurses Association and SEIU United Healthcare Workers West has formed to oppose the pending sale of Anaheim Memorial Medical Center to Prime Healthcare Services Inc. The attorney general’s office is reviewing the sale to Prime, which is headed by cardiologist-businessman Prem Reddy Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach said it treated the first U.S. patient with carotid artery disease and a high risk of stroke as part of the Sonoma clinical study for Boston Scientific Corp.’s NexStent carotid stent system Visiogen Inc., an Irvine medical device maker, said a pair of papers focusing on its Synchrony replacement lens for cataract surgery, received a “best of session” designation during the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery’s symposium recently held in San Diego.
