Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2008

TODAY’S HEADLINES:

• Arbor Surgical raises $20M for heart devices (release)
• Small Bone Innovations acquires ankle-replacement maker Link America (release)
• Active Implants adds $3M for hip and knee implants (VentureWire)
• Clarian Health Partners launches VC unit with $25M (release)
• Iroko Pharma acquires non-U.S. rights to Merck heart drug (release)
• Remmele Engineering acquires medical-device manufacturer EL-Tronic Precision (release)
• OpGen appoints former Affymetrix exec Noel Doheny as CEO (release)

Arbor Surgical raises $20M for heart devices — Arbor Surgical, an Irvine, Calif., medical-device maker, raised $20 million in a third funding round. Medtronic, the huge medical-device maker led the funding, which was linked to a licensing deal between the two companies. Existing Arbor investors also participated.

Arbor is developing technology for minimally invasive heart-valve replacement. The company began European trials of its device in 2005, and expects to start U.S. tests this year.

Active Implants adds $3M for hip and knee implants — Active Implants, a Memphis, Tenn., medical-device company, added $3 million in convertible notes and warrants in preparation for its first product launch, VentureWire reports. The company declined to identify its investors.

The company just released its first product, a hip-replacement implant, in Europe, and is readying clinical trials for an artificial knee-cartilage replacement. All told, the company raised slightly more than $10 million last year, and says it will be looking for an additional $20 million in a third round later this year.

Clarian Health Partners launches VC unit with $25M — Clarian Health Partners, an Indianapolis hospital chain, launched a venture-capital arm, Clarian Health Ventures, with an initial $25 million investment. The release is here.

Clarian aims to make early-stage investments that will benefit its parent company and to support economic development and innovation in Indiana. The fund expects to make initial investments in the range of $250,000 to $500,000, and as much as $3 million over the life of an investment. Clarian’s first investment was in the cancer-biomarker biotech CS-Keys, which we covered yesterday.

Small Bone Innovations acquires ankle-replacement maker Link America —Small Bone Innovations, a New York maker of orthopedic implants for the hand, elbow, foot and elbow, acquired Link America, a device company focused on ankle replacement. The release is here. The companies didn’t disclose financial terms of the deal.