Massachusetts-based medical device company Infraredx has refinanced its debt with GE Capital. GE Capital upped the coronary artery imaging company’s credit from $6.6 million to $20 million, according to a press release. The company is gearing up for a commercial launch in Japan and will use much of the funding earmarked for commercialization as working capital, CFO Michael Guarasci said.
“Japan is the largest market in the world when it comes to coronary imaging,” Guarasci said. The company expects regulatory approval for its medical device, the TVC Imaging System, there early in 2014. Nipro made a $25 million equity investment in the company last year as part of a distribution agreement. Nipro, which acquired Japanese Goodman in January, will use its own and its newly acquired sales force of 130 to 140 people to sell the Infraredx console and disposable catheter directly to hospitals, he said.
The remainder of the money will go toward two clinical trials, the Lipid Rich Plaque and Prospect II/Absorb studies, over the next three to five years, Guarasci said.
“The TVC Imaging System is the only intravascular imaging system that enables true vessel characterization through simultaneous structural and compositional imaging data obtained in a single pullback,” according to a press release. That kind of innovation is what spurred GE Capital to continue its investment in the company.
“We’re pleased to provide customized financing to an innovative medical device company like Infraredx,” Anthony Storino, senior managing director of GE Capital, Healthcare Financial Services, Life Sciences, said in a press release. “We’ve been their lender for several years and appreciate the opportunity to continue supporting their growth.”
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