Acorn Cardiovascular

Jan 5, 2012

Share / Jan 5, 2012 at 9:55 AM A Minnesota pediatric medical device company is seeking $2.5 million, according to documents filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission. Preceptis Medical, which is developing a solution that will allow ear, nose and throat specialists to perform ear tube surgeries safely on children right in their offices, has already raised $500,000 by issuing debt and convertible debt. The company’s CEO – Steve Anderson – declined comment. But in an interview last May , Anderson said that at minimum he was looking to raise $5 million and if market appetite was greater he would raise up to $10 million. Advertisement The target market, he said, would consist of the 1.3 million to 1.5 million ear tube surgeries that are performed in the operating room annually on children. “What we are doing is that we are trying to come up with solutions for moving those procedures out of the OR so that the kids do not have to undergo general anesthesia,” Anderson said at the time. “We have come up with a way of safely delivering ear tubes right in the ENT’s office.” At the time, Anderson also said that the device that Preceptis was developing would bring cost savings because it would transfer surgeries out of hospitals into doctor’s offices. By transferring those surgeries out of hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers to the ENT’s office, health insurers can save 70 percent per procedure, Anderson said. Anderson was president of Acorn Cardiovascular , which capitulated after a long battle with the Food and Drug Administration, which repeatedly denied approving the company’s heart device. After raising $100 million in venture capital, Anderson was forced to close Acorn. In late 2010, he sold its intellectual property to an undisclosed company and liquidated its assets before moving on to create Preceptis, which is developing a lower risk device than Acorn.