Weekend Rounds: PediaWorks to develop pediatric medical devices

Here are some of the top stories at MedCity News this week:

Tim Moran remembers hearing his prematurely born daughter scream in pain when the only available, excessively large airway mask was strapped to her head.Years later, Moran, a medical device inventor who has helped commercialize and raise money for others’ devices, has started PediaWorks, a not-for-profit organization that will work with medical professionals to develop pediatric medical devices, spinning off for-profit companies to commercialize those devices.

Affinity Capital Management, a well-known local venture capital firm that invests heavily in medical device and health care start-ups, is collaborating with Triathlon Medical Ventures of Cincinnati to launch a $10 million seed and early stage fund in Minnesota. Affinity venture partner Serafin Samson will lead the fund along with Barbara Nelson, a business consultant and a former MGI Pharma executive and associate director at the University of Minnesota’s Office of Technology Commercialization.

Earlier this month, St. Jude Medical Inc. marked a 30 year history of developing neurostimulation technology at the American Academy of Pain Medicine’s annual meeting. But in truth, St. Jude’s neurostim business really begun in 2005. That’s when the local medical device maker, known mostly for its pacemakers and implantable cardio defibrillators, purchased Advanced Neuromodulation Systems in Plano, Texas. The smooth acquisition gave St. Jude a much needed boost in revenue at a time when global demand for mechanical heart devices starts to wane.

Scott Danielson is a former AOL executive, filmmaker and creative director. Lee Zukor used to work at Best Buy and Target.com. So naturally, they’re forming a start-up focused on pushing people to eat healthy. After building Internet-based consumer engagement platforms for UnitedHealth Group Inc., Danielson founded Healthy Heartland Inc., a firm that advises clients like Mayo Clinic on how to increase the supply of health care, especially to under-served rural areas. He then met Zukor, who started Simple, Good and Tasty, a local blog dedicated to promoting healthy foods.

Financial deals of the week: Bain Capital Ventures, which has invested in Midwestern health care start-ups, has raised a $525 million fund, its first since 2007… The Ohio Health Information Partnership, which has been charged with promoting electronic health records adoption in Ohio, has received a $43 million federal grant… The University of Minnesota has been awarded an $8.6 million grant to speed the development of novel stem cell and immune cell-based therapies from the laboratory to clinical trials… Esperion Therapeutics, a Plymouth, Mich., spin-off from Pfizer Inc., has raised an additional $5 million to develop drugs that treat cardiovascular and metabolic disease… Six researchers from the University of Cincinnati and Cincinnati Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center have been awarded over $4 million in federal research grants to investigate chronic diseases that commonly affect veterans… ALung Technologies Inc. in Pittsburgh has raised $3.3 million in equity to develop a respiratory-assistance system that delivers oxygen directly into the blood using a catheter into the femoral or jugular vein… Imricor Medical Systems Inc. in Burnsville, Minn., has raised $3.069 million to develop with General Electric an MRI-guided catheter system used to treat cardiac arrhythmia like atrial fibrillation… Rise Health Inc. in Chicago has raised $1.5 million in equity for its primary care physician support services… Surgical products manufacturer Parcus Medical LLC in Sturgeon Bay, Wis., has raised $1.3 million in equity to develop more surgical devices including screws, suture anchors, screw drivers and guide wires.