Here are three interesting medical device deals from around the Bay Area that crossed our desk in the past few days.
—Voyage Medical, a Redwood City, CA-based developer of technology to help cardiologists better visualize heart tissue as they work, raised $20.6 million out of an equity financing round that could be worth as much as $21.1 million, according to an SEC filing. Voyage is developing its IRIS system which can be incorporated into cardiac ablation catheters. The system removes heart blockages for patients with atrial fibrillation or irregular heartbeats known as arrhythmias.
—Another Redwood City, CA-based company, Incline Therapeutics, raised $43 million yesterday for an unusual drug-device combination system. This system, called Ionsys, is designed to help patients deliver a pre-programmed amount of powerful pain medication to themselves after surgery, which creates less oversight work for nurses who have to worry about overdoses. The system itself is approved for sale in the U.S. and Europe, although it can’t be marketed until more safety features are built in. Incline also set itself up to be acquired by another aspiring pain-management company, San Diego-based Cadence Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CADX]]). Frazier Healthcare Ventures led the deal.
—San Jose, CA-based Baxano pocketed $30 million in its Series C venture round, led by CMEA Capital, which included new investors Kaiser Permanente Ventures and Affinity Capital Management, and existing investors Prospect Venture Partners, Three Arch Partners, and Kearny Venture Partners. The company is developing what it calls iO-Flex technology, which uses thin, flexible instruments to help decompress painful, impinged tissue that causes people to get back surgery. The technique is supposed to help enable a greater range of motion and better quality of life after surgery.
