Portfolio Press Release
Devax Closes on $32 Million of Series D Financing
Irvine, CA - November 2, 2005 — Devax, emerging medical device company with a proprietary drug eluting stent for the treatment of vascular bifurcations completed a $32 million Series D financing. The funding will be used to finance the Company's US IDE clinical study and international marketing of the Axxess™ drug eluting bifurcation stent. The Series D financing was co-led by InterWest Partners and U.S. Venture Partners (USVP). Also participating as a new investor was Bio-Star Private Equity Fund. As part of the transaction Michael Sweeney of InterWest Partners and Casey Tansey of USVP have joined the Devax Board of Directors. Piper Jaffray advised the Company for this transaction.
Jeff Thiel, Devax President and CEO said "Our current investors provided significant support in this round and we are pleased to have these three new venture groups join them in making Devax a success. In particular we look forward to the knowledge and guidance that Michael and Casey will bring to the management team as members of the Board."
At the recent Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) meeting in Washington, D.C. Devax reported positive results on its AXXESS PLUS trial a first in man study for AXXESS™ Drug Eluting Bifurcation Stent which included 139 patients from 13 international study centers. The AXXESS Stent is the first to show clinical results with a drug eluting stent designed specifically for bifurcation lesions.
"We believe that the AXXESS stent technology is novel device that addresses one of the Interventional Cardiologist's most difficult patient populations. We are excited about working with Devax to bring this solution to the market," stated Michael Sweeney a General Partner at InterWest Partners.
The Devax AXXESS technology is a proprietary self-expanding nickel titanium alloy stent specifically engineered for the treatment of coronary and vascular bifurcation lesions. The conical shape of the stent conforms to the bifurcation anatomy and provides full access to both branches for additional interventional procedures. Devax has licensed the drug Biolimus A9(TM) and a bioabsorbable polymer coating from Occam International, an affiliate of Biosensors International.
Devax, Inc., a private emerging medical device company located in Irvine, California, is engaged in the development of a proprietary bifurcated stent system that provides a clinical solution to treat atherosclerotic disease in coronary bifurcations and left main coronary arteries.
InterWest Partners (www.interwest.com) founded in 1979, is a leading diversified venture capital firm focused on building long-term relationships with entrepreneurs and portfolio companies. Currently investing their ninth fund, IW IX, a $600 million fund, InterWest has more than $2 billion of capital raised. InterWest has 17 experienced partners in Menlo Park, CA and Dallas, TX, who bring together deep domain knowledge in life sciences and information technology.
U.S. Venture Partners (USVP) invests in a broad range of early-stage information technology companies, including those involved in wireless, IT infrastructure, semiconductors, and enterprise and technical software. Representative USVP public companies are: Sun Microsystems, SanDisk, AMCC, Verity, Check Point Software Technologies, MMC Networks, 3Dfx, Leadis, Nuance Communications, Centillium, Crescendo Communications (Cisco), Elantec (Intersil), StrataCom (Cisco), Xylan, Blue Coat Systems and Concur.
Bio-Star focuses on emerging medical device company investments, with particular focus and expertise in the areas of minimally-invasive cardiovascular and peripheral vascular devices. Bio-Star was founded by a group of physicians at the forefront of vascular medicine who bring unique expertise in developing and introducing new medical devices into the market. In addition to its office in Petoskey, Michigan, Bio-Star has an administrative office located in Irvine, California
For further information contact:
Jeff Thiel
President & CEO
949-461-0450