IPO FILING: Concentric Medical, A Stroke Treatment Device (CLOT)

A medical device company for the treatment of strokes called Concentric Medical, Inc. has filed to come public via an IPO under the NASDAQ ticker "CLOT."  The filing is for up to $69 million in shares, although that is for filing purposes and can be changed.  Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers are the lead underwriters, and Thomas Weisel Partners is a co-manager.

Concentric Medical estimates that over 6,000 patients have been treated to date with its Merci sytem. During fiscal year 2006 and the first six months of 2007, it claims worldwide revenue of approximately $11.3 million and $7.8 million, respectively, and incurred net losses of approximately $6.9 million and $3.5 million, respectively.

Here is the company’s self description: We are a medical device company that designs, develops and markets products for restoring blood flow in patients who have suffered ischemic strokes, which result from blood clots in the vessels of the brain. Our Merci Retrieval System is a minimally invasive device designed to restore blood flow in the neurovasculature of ischemic stroke patients by removing blood clots in order to improve the clinical outcome of patients. In 2004, we received clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, to market our Merci Retrieval System. Our system is the only FDA cleared device for the restoration of blood flow in ischemic stroke patients through clot removal. We have also received FDA clearance to market our device for use in the retrieval of foreign bodies misplaced during the interventional radiological procedures in the neuro, peripheral and coronary vasculature.

The number of shares of common stock that will be outstanding after this offering is based on 75,227,038 shares outstanding.  The company competes against many of the big medical device players out there and it is a licensee to The Regents of the University of California for patents and technical information relating to a blood clot retrieval device.  It states these patents expire in 2016 and also states that it could become the target of patent litigation and administrative proceedings.  It would seem that an IPO filing of this sort shouldn’t have any serious problems soming to market.  It is even possible that the company might not make it public because a predator could approach it if the valuations aren’t deemed astronomical. 

Jon C. Ogg
August 17, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at [email protected]; he is the publisher of the 24/7 Wall St. Special Situation Investing Newsletter and does not own securities in the companies he covers.