Midwest biomedical companies use variety of financing methods to develop products, expand — MedCity Weekend Rounds, July 3, 2009

CLEVELAND, Ohio — We reported on several growth transactions among Midwest biomedical companies this week. Could a months-long drought in financial deals be drawing to a close?

Among this week’s transactions:

• Content management company Hyland Software in Westlake, Ohio, has purchased health-care focused Valco Data Systems to strengthen Hyland’s position in its largest and fastest-growing segment — electronic health record systems.
• Minneapolis biotech start-up VitalMedix wants to raise $1.5 million in convertible debt to continue developing a drug that protects the body after severe blood loss.
• Medical device maker Leis Medical, part of IMDS, will use a $1 million loan and a $142,900 job creation tax credit from Ohio to expand its facility in Vandalia.
• ProCertus BioPharm in Madison, Wis., will use $2.1 million in private investment to start several clinical trials on drugs that fight the side effects of radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
• NanoMedex Pharmaceuticals Inc. in Fitchburg, Wis., has raised $500,000 to help it get regulatory approval to sell its first product — Microfol, a micro-emulsion formulation of a popular anesthesia used during surgery.
• Lincolnshire, Ill., drug company BioSante Pharmaceuticals has purchased what’s left of oncology biotech Cell Genesys, and the combined company will focus on a testosterone gel that treats female sexual dysfunction.

We also reported on roadblocks to embryonic stem cell research that are emerging in Ohio and Michigan, and the effects of a lawsuit by a former National Football League player who got a career-ending staph infection at the Cleveland Browns training facility, which is medically managed by the Cleveland Clinic.

The feel-good story of the week? MetroHealth System in Cleveland and its collaborators — the Benjamin Rose Institute, Concordia Care, and the Visiting Nurse Association’s Hospice and Palliative Care Partners of Ohio — raised $4 million to renovate the former Deaconess Hospital in Old Brooklyn, Ohio, as a Senior Health & Wellness Center.

Have a happy Fourth of July!