Gamma Medica has completed its Chapter 11 bankruptcy process with the separate sales of its molecular breast imaging (MBI) and preclinical imaging business segments to two buyers.
The company's LumaGem MBI unit was sold to Imaging Acquisition, an entity controlled by healthcare growth equity firm Psilos Group Managers for $3.1 million. The preclinical business was acquired by Northridge Trimodality Imaging of Northridge, CA, for $2.5 million.
Both transactions closed on March 12 after the bankruptcy judge entered the final sales orders.
"[Psilos brings] to the table the capital that is needed to continue the commercialization strategy for the LumaGen," acting Gamma Medica CEO Jim Calandra told AuntMinnie.com. He added that Psilos has been an investor in Gamma Medica since 2009 "and they are highly enthusiastic about the molecular breast imaging technology."
Gamma Medica's LumaGem molecular breast imaging system. Image courtesy of Gamma Medica.Representatives from Psilos and Gamma Medica's MBI business met for three days last week after the transaction closed to develop a business plan going forward. Calandra estimated that Psilos will invest $10 million to $15 million now that it owns the MBI technology.
Whether that investment is an immediate, one-time capital infusion or it will be made over a period of time is yet to be determined. Calandra anticipates that Psilos could unveil its strategic plans and details of the investment as soon as the end of this month.
LumaGem units are currently installed at 15 medical institutions and clinical practices in the U.S. Gamma Medica has continued to work on technology improvements to LumaGem throughout the bankruptcy process. Coming advances include an enhanced mechanism that operates the detector head on the gantry.
The company has also been revamping internal components in the device's cabinet, which will decrease the amount of heat and noise generated by the system and reduce the required cooling capacity to make LumaGem more energy efficient.
The company hopes to introduce the upgrades by the end of this year or early in the first quarter of 2014, Calandra said.
"We are very impressed with the progress this team has made over the past 12 to 18 months in expanding LumaGem's customer base and making key product improvements," said David Eichler, managing member at Psilos, in a prepared statement. "The growing body of clinical evidence for molecular breast imaging shows this technology's importance in overcoming the critical shortcomings of mammography and other screening modalities in detection of cancer in dense breast tissue."
Calandra has an agreement with Psilos to remain as CEO at least through the transition and possibly beyond. The bankruptcy did not affect the number of employees in the MBI business unit, which has remained at 11 throughout the process.
The preclinical imaging business is also expected to retain its approximately 20 employees. General Manager Kevin Parnham will head the unit within Northridge as CEO.
