HepaLife Technologies Inc. (OTC:HPLF) has acquired the maker of hydrogels used for transdermal drug delivery in an all-stock deal valued at about $16 million.
In addition to the May 11 all-stock deal for privately held AquaMed Technologies Inc. of Langhorne, Pa., HepaLife also said that Amit Dang had quit as interim president and CEO at the company and would be replaced by Richard Rosenblum, a principal and investment manager at Harborview Advisors in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
Dang, a managing director at Infinitus Ventures, joined HepaLife on Oct. 13, 2009 after former CEO Frank Menzler resigned to become a special technical advisor with the company.
Connected with both events, the company said it also completed a private placement of common stock and warrants, raising $1.425 million. The 2 million units sold last week consist of 1 HepaLife share priced at 12.5 cents and warrants to purchase one-half share each of Series E and Series F stock, priced at 16 cents and 20 cents, respectively.
Harborview and Rosenbaum apparently purchased a sizable number of those units, according to regulatory documents, with Rosenbaum agreeing to not assume his new role at HepaLife until additional security ownership statements are filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Boston-based HepaLife exchanged 84.8 million shares for AquaMed, previously known as Hydrogel Design Systems Inc. prior to its February 2009 recapitalization. In October, it expanded production capacity for silver formulations to its roll and sheet hydrogels, adding antimicrobial properties to moist wound dressings.
HepaLife is developing a bioartificial liver device using a patented liver stem cell line.