IPO FILING: EMPHASYS MEDICAL, INC. (EMPH)

EMPHASYS MEDICAL, INC. has filed to come public via an initial public offering and has listed it initial sale of securities as up to $86.25 million for filing purposes.  The underwriting group includes Morgan Stanley, Thomas Weisel, Leerink Swann, and Canaccord Adams.  Emphasys will take the proposed ticker "EMPH" on NASDAQ.

Emphasys is quite simply an emphysema fighter.  It is a medical technology company focused on developing and commercializing therapeutic devices for the treatment emphysema and other debilitating breathing disorders.  It recently completed its pivotal clinical trial to demonstrate the efficacy and safety of its first product, the Emphasys Bronchial Valve, or EBV, in patients with emphysema.   Emphasys has submitted our application for pre-market approval to the Food and Drug Administration in September 2007.  The company believes it is the first company to have submitted a PMA application for a device to improve lung function in emphysema patients.  Emphasys says in its prospectus that it anticipates receiving FDA approval for the EBV and beginning sales in the United States in late 2008. Its EBV has received CE marking in Europe, and it has begun selling the product in Europe on a limited basis and plans for a full commercial launch through distributors in Europe by mid-2008.

This new device company is venture backed and lists the following as owners: ABS Ventures (10%), Advanced Technology Ventures (17.8%), Orbimed Advisors (13.7%), Cargill Inc. (6.1%), Morgan Stanley Venture Partners (7.4%), Morgenthaler Partners (13.8%), and SPVC VI (11.5%).

More can be found at the Emphasys site http://www.emphasysmedical.com/

Jon C. Ogg
September 21, 2007

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