BG Medicine ends its first Wall Street week on the upswing

February 18, 2011 By MassDevice staff

It took a long time to get there, but BG Medicine Inc. (NSDQ:BGMD) ended its first week as a public company in Wall Street’s good graces.

The Waltham, Mass.-based diagnostics company saw share prices jump 5 percent during its first week of public trading, based on the Feb. 17 closing price of $8.39. Shares were up 1.5 percent through mid-day trading today, to $8.58, before retreating slightly.

All in all, it was a big week for the company — CEO Pieter Muntendam even got a chance to ring the NASDAQ exchange’s opening bell Feb. 16.

BG Medicine went public Feb. 11. The 4.75-million-share offering was its third stab at an IPO, albeit at half the valuation it had looked for in a $71.2 million attempt in December 2010. The company also scrapped plans for a $45 million IPO in 2008 and an $86.3 million offering in January 2010.

BG said it plans to use about $15 million of the proceeds to support the commercial launch of its BGM galectin-3 biomarker test. The test, designed to evaluate patients’ risk of heart attack, won 510(k) clearance from the Food & Drug Administration last month and CE Mark approval in the European Union in October 2009.

Flagship Ventures is the company’s largest backer, owning a 44.4 percent stake. Flagship partner Noubar Afeyan is the chairman of BG’s board, according to the SEC filing. Other investors include Gilde Europe Food and Agriculture Fund BV, GE Asset Management, Humana Inc., Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV, Legg Mason Capital management and SMALLCAP World Fund.

The company has said an automated version of its galectin-3 test is necessary for it to achieve broader market penetration. It’s working with Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT), Alere Inc. (NYSE:ALR) and bioMerieux SA (EPA:BIM) to incorporate the test those companies’ automated lab instruments and it plans file for FDA clearance for the automated test by the fourth quarter of 2011, according to Dow Jones.

Packaging Compliance Labs expanding in Michigan
Packaging Compliance Labs, LLC (PCL) will be expanding its current operations in Kentwood, Mich. In addition to a capital investment of $2.57 million, the company will bring 27 new jobs to the area. The medical device and pharmaceutical packaging engineering and validation firm, along with its sister company, SmartStart Medical (SSM), will take on the… […]
Survey: Half of heart attack patients avoid the hospital during pandemic
The number of heart attack patients seeking urgent hospital care has dropped by more than 50% worldwide during the COVID-19 outbreak, according to a survey by the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). The survey of 3,101 healthcare professionals in 141 countries was conducted in mid-April.The findings are published in European Heart Journal — Quality of… […]
Resolution Medical hires industry veteran as CEO
Resolution Medical recently announced that it has brought on industry veteran David Blaeser as its new CEO. The Fridley, Minn.–based medical device contract manufacturing and development company noted that Blaeser has 35 years of experience leading teams at Boston Scientific, Velocimed, Nidus, Endometabolic Solutions, Libra Medical, and Zift Medical. Most recently, he was founder and CEO… […]
The George Floyd case has rocked a major U.S. medtech hub: Here’s what industry leaders think
Major medtech companies with a presence in the Minnesota have been calling for peace, unity and racial justice following the death of George Floyd in police custody and the resulting demonstrations and violence. Executives from Boston Scientific, Medtronic and the Medical Alley Association have penned open letters expressing their concerns and pledging to do better.… […]
Summit Medical produces 1 million face shields in 8 weeks
Summit Medical recently announced that it has delivered more than 1 million FDA-compliant face shields for to protect healthcare workers and returning business employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. St. Paul-based Summit Medical said it designed, engineered and manufactured the face shields in just 8 weeks, cross-training staff to assemble them and saving 65 employees’ jobs.… […]
PAVmed inks deal with Canon Virginia on ear tube manufacturing
Pavmed (NSDQ:PAVM) today announced it plans to develop and use Canon Virginia’s commercial-grade and scalable aqueous silk fibroin molding process to manufacture its DisappEAR molded pediatric ear tubes. Under terms outlined in a letter of intent, PAVmed and Canon Virginia propose to enter into two sequential agreements covering a 5-phase project culminating in the commercialization of… […]
Study finds delays in seeking stroke treatment amid COVID-19
Ischemic stroke patients are showing up to the hospital an average of 160 minutes later during the COVID-19 pandemic than during a similar timeframe in 2019, according to a new study. The delay is affecting both stroke survival and recovery, add stroke surgeons from the Society of NeuroInterventional Surgery (SNIS). The first study to confirm… […]
Performance Motion Devices touts new Juno outer loop control ICs
Performance Motion Devices announced the launch of its Juno outer loop control ICs for use in medical, industrial and military applications. The Westford, Mass.-based company’s new Juno product joins a portfolio of velocity and toque control ICs (integrated circuits) used for spindle control, centrifuge control, precision torque control and other liquid handling and laboratory automation… […]
Lille Group releases Cardiac Signals cloud-based patient monitoring software
Lille Group announced today that it launched its Cardiac Signals cloud-based software platform for healthcare professionals to monitor cardiac patients remotely. The secure platform enables cardiology practices and hospitals to manage cardiac patients remotely with ease and efficiency, which is aimed to help during a potential telehealth boom as the COVID-19 pandemic continues and onsite… […]
The secret to building a successful medtech career
In this week’s DeviceTalks Weekly podcast, Edwards Lifesciences executive Dr. Todd Brinton shares the one trait he looks for in job candidates that can trump talent and ability. Brinton, who is VP of advanced technology and chief scientific officer at Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW), also offered tips on when candidates need to shift from conforming to differentiating.… […]
Medtronic is making its ‘artificial lung’ therapy available for COVID-19 treatment
Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) is temporarily modifying product indications so that health providers can use its extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) technology to treat people with severe cases of COVID-19. ECMO could be described as a type of “artificial lung” technology that pumps blood from a person’s body to an oxygenator that provides long-term oxygen and carbon-dioxide transfer. Medtronic… […]