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IPO in the works for diagnostics firm BG Medicine

The $71.2 million initial public offering should be announced next week. The IPO would help launch the company’s BGM Galectin-3 biomarker, which evaluates the risk of a heart attack. The biomarker has won both FDA and European approval.

BG Medicine Inc. is reportedly planning to launch its $71.2 million initial public offering as soon as next week.

The Waltham, Mass.-based diagnostics firm is expected to price 4.75 million shares at $13 to $15, according to a Securities & Exchange Commission filing.

BG is scheduled to announced the offering next week, according to Mass High Tech.

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The company’s shares would trade on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the BGMD symbol, according to the filing. The company filed for an $86.3 million IPO in January, almost exactly two years to the day after it pulled a bid to go public with an $80 million IPO on Euronext, which it filed for in August 2007.

The company plans to use about $25 million of the proceeds from the offering to support the commercial launch of its BGM Galectin-3 biomarker test, according to the most recent IPO filing. The test, designed to evaluate 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 largest stakeholder in the company, owning a 44.4 percent stake, according to MHT. 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, according to MHT.

BG reported a net loss of $13.8 million, or $1.11 per share on a pro forma basis, on revenues of $620,000 during the nine months ended Sept. 30, according to the filing. That compares with a loss of $11.9 million, or $1.29 per share, on revenue of $8.1 million during the same period last year. For the year, the company brought in about $8.5 million in revenues with losses of $16.1 million.

The Massachusetts Medical Devices Journal is the online journal of the medical devices industry in the Commonwealth and New England, providing day-to-day coverage of the devices that save lives, the people behind them, and the burgeoning trends and developments within the industry.