Financings In Brief

Xtent: Menlo Park, Calif.-based firm will use proceeds of $25 mil. financing led by Morgenthaler Ventures to finish development and launch its Custom Nx coronary stent - which elutes Biosensors' Biolimus A9 drug - in the European market by Q4 2006 (1"The Gray Sheet" May 31, 2004, p. 17). Xtent will commence enrollment of a 100-person clinical trial this summer to support a CE mark. The DES system is meant to treat long, diffuse lesions and multiple lesions more rapidly and accurately than currently available devices by using a delivery system that deploys a divisible stent to different parts of the vessel, thereby minimizing catheter exchange, Xtent explains. Following EU marketing, the 48-person company will begin a 1,500-subject pivotal trial to support U.S. approval, expected in 2008. President & CEO Greg Casciaro joined Xtent last September. He previously served as CEO of Healos bone graft substitute manufacturer Orquest, which J&J/DePuy acquired in 2003 (2"The Gray Sheet" Feb. 3, 2003, In Brief)...