GE healthymagination Fund Joins Leading Investor OrbiMed in $20 Million Series B Financing Round for Ornim, Inc.

Press release:

21 August 2012

GE healthymagination Fund Joins Leading Investor OrbiMed in $20 Million Series B Financing Round for Ornim, Inc.

 

MILWAUKEE & HERZLIYA & LOD, Israel--21 August 2012-- GE (NYSE: GE), together with OrbiMed Israel and Ornim, Inc., announced today a $20 million investment in Ornim, Inc., a developer of the CerOx™ monitor that non-invasively monitors blood flow and oxygen saturation in brain and muscle tissue.

OrbiMed is a leading investment firm dedicated to building world-class biopharmaceutical and medical technology companies. The investment in Ornim, Inc., is being made through OrbiMed Israel Partners Limited Partnership, OrbiMed's investment fund in Israel, which focuses on Israeli life science investments.

GE’s investment is being made through the GE healthymagination Fund, an equity fund that makes investments in highly promising healthcare technology companies and is jointly managed by GE Capital and GE Healthcare, GE’s financial services and healthcare divisions, respectively. In addition to their financial investment, Ornim and GE Healthcare will be exploring development of potential strategic relationship as part of a broader collaboration.

Maintaining adequate blood flow and oxygenation are primary clinical goals for critical care patients. However, today, a full measurement is only achievable using multiple, often invasive devices. There is a strong clinical need to provide accurate, multi-parameter, continuous monitoring of blood flow and oxygenation in the brain that is both non-invasive and cost-effective.

By using near-infrared spectroscopy combined with ultrasound waves, Ornim’s CerOx is a United States Food & Drug Administration (FDA)-cleared device that enables clinicians to monitor two critical parameters in adult patients: regional hemoglobin oxygen saturation in the brain or in a region of skeletal muscle tissue beneath the CerOx sensor and microcirculation blood flow in tissue. It is also the only device that does so in tandem.

The investment was made as part of a Series B financing round that was led by OrbiMed and that also included Agate Medical Investment LP’s Agate-MAC Fund. The financing will be used for further development, clinical studies, international marketing and commercialization of Ornim’s CerOx monitor. The financial terms of the investment were not disclosed.

“The decision to invest in Ornim was based on the growing realization that there is a crucial need to monitor vital organs (such as the brain) during a variety of medical procedures,” said Dr. Nissim Darvish, Senior Managing Director of OrbiMed. “The uniqueness of Ornim’s technology results from its ability to monitor in real time oxygen saturation in brain tissue, along with microcirculation blood flow. The potential market of this technology is very large, and the current solutions are not adequate. This potential, along with a very professional and experienced team, could allow the company to become a world leader in its field.”

Ornim also announced today the appointment of Mr. Israel Schreiber as the company’s new CEO. Mr. Schreiber has more than 20 years of managerial experience in the medical device industry both in Israel and in the United States. He served as the CEO of Itamar Medical and, most recently, as the CEO of ITGI Medical.

“The investment announced today will enable Ornim to accelerate product development and promote the introduction of the CerOx™ monitor to the international market,” said Schreiber. “The relationship with GE, a world leader in patient monitoring, alongside OrbiMed, one of the largest healthcare venture capital fund managers, provides important benefits, including an in-depth understanding of the market as well as vast operational and marketing experience.”

The investment also is aligned with GE Healthcare’s expanding focus on patient monitoring solutions that can improve healthcare globally, as well as GE’s broader healthymagination initiative, which focuses on reducing cost, increasing patient access and improving quality in healthcare.

“Ornim’s technology is not only innovative but it presents great promise to better monitor patients in a critical care setting, providing additional information to aid clinicians in the care of their patients,” said Thierry Leclercq, General Manager, GE Healthcare Systems Life Care Solutions.

"Ornim is Agate-MAC’s first investment in an Israeli subsidiary,” said Agate-MAC Fund Managing Partner Michel Habib. “We chose to invest because Ornim Medical has developed a market-changing technology that will dramatically improve the ability of the intensivist to monitor the brain condition of patients in critical care procedures, non-invasively.”

Ornim plans to launch the CerOx™ monitor – which also has received CE marking – in the U.S. and European markets within the next 18 months.

About Ornim, Inc.

Ornim, Inc., through its fully owned subsidiary Ornim Medical Ltd., is bringing to market the CerOx™ monitor, both FDA-cleared and CE marked device that, using near infrared light and ultrasound waves, continuously, non-invasively and in tandem, monitors two critical parameters in adult patients: regional hemoglobin oxygen saturation in the brain or in regions of skeletal muscle tissue beneath the sensor and microcirculation blood flow in tissue. It is the only solution that offers measurement of this combination. Ornim anticipates that the combined measurement of oxygen saturation and blood flow will become essential during every medical procedure done under general anesthesia, for monitoring brain-injured patients, and during resuscitation. The CerOx monitor is designed for use in a variety of clinical settings including the operating room and the intensive care unit.

Ornim Medical, based in Lod, Israel, was founded in 2004 by Dr. Revital Shechter and Dr. Michal Balberg and is a fully owned subsidiary of Ornim, Inc., a Delaware Corporation. Mr. Israel Schreiber is Ornim Medical’s new CEO. Dr. Shechter is the company’s president and VP of R&D. Dr. Balberg is the company’s chief technology officer and Dr. Moshe Kamar is the company’s VP of medical affairs. Its proprietary technology is protected by 5 issued United States patents and numerous worldwide patent applications.www.ornim.com

About OrbiMed

OrbiMed is a leading investment firm dedicated exclusively to the life sciences sector, with approximately $6 billion in assets under management. OrbiMed invests across the entire spectrum of pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies on a worldwide basis. Investments are made through venture capital funds, public equity funds, and other investment vehicles.

Since inception of its venture capital activities in 1993, OrbiMed has partnered with over 100 companies across a wide range of therapeutic categories and stages of development. OrbiMed’s investment team includes over 40 experienced investment professionals with offices in New York City, Tel Aviv, San Francisco, Shanghai and Mumbai. Recently OrbiMed launched OrbiMed Israel Partners Limited Partnership, a $222 million fund dedicated to Israeli life science investments. As the largest investment firm dedicated to the healthcare sector by net assets under management, OrbiMed seeks to be a capital provider of choice, bringing the global resources required to be an exceptional long term partner for building world-class biopharmaceutical and medical technology companies. www.OrbiMed.com.

About Agate Medical Investments LP

Agate Medical Investments LP is a group of funds founded by Dani Naveh, specialized in providing growth capital to mature Medtech companies. Agate, as one of Israel's leading healthcare investors, has established a leading position in the healthcare VC industry, resulting in quality deal-flow and investor partnerships. Since its formation in late 2007, Agate I has invested in 9 promising companies. Agate II was established in February 2012, for Korea-Israel MedTech investments, under partnership in the MAC fund.www.agate-invest.com

About the GE healthymagination Fund

The GE healthymagination Fund is part of GE’s $6 billion healthymagination initiative, a global commitment to deliver better healthcare to more people at lower cost. The Fund targets three broad areas for investment: Broad-based diagnostics, Healthcare Information Technology, and Life Sciences. The Fund draws on capabilities from across GE Healthcare, GE Capital and GE Global Research, and has a global footprint. For further information about the fund, visit www.healthymaginationfund.com.

About GE Capital

GE Capital offers consumers and businesses around the globe an array of financial products and services. For more information, visitwww.gecapital.com or follow company news via Twitter (@GECapital).

About GE Healthcare

GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care. Our broad expertise in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, drug discovery, biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies, performance improvement and performance solutions services help our customers to deliver better care to more people around the world at a lower cost. In addition, we partner with healthcare leaders, striving to leverage the global policy change necessary to implement a successful shift to sustainable healthcare systems.

Our “healthymagination” vision for the future invites the world to join us on our journey as we continuously develop innovations focused on reducing costs, increasing access and improving quality around the world. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, GE Healthcare is a unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE). Worldwide, GE Healthcare employees are committed to serving healthcare professionals and their patients in more than 100 countries. For more information about GE Healthcare, visit our website at www.gehealthcare.com.

GE & Partners Announce Winners of the First Stage of $100 M "healthymagination Cancer Challenge"

Press release:

27 March 2012

GE & Partners Announce Winners of the First Stage of $100 Million “healthymagination Cancer Challenge”

· Challenge focused on early-stage breast cancer breakthroughs that warrant discovery, incubation and acceleration through seed funding

· Winning innovations could expedite breast cancer detection, diagnosis and improve the identification of effective therapies, allowing more patients to survive

SAN FRANCISCO--27 March 2012-- GE (NYSE: GE) announced today five innovation award winners as part of the first stage of its $100 million “GE healthymagination Cancer Challenge.” More than 500 ideas from 40 countries were submitted, sparking robust conversations among more than 200 academic institutions and researchers on the Challenge’s open innovation platform.

The five innovation award winners have the potential to help doctors find cancer earlier, make more accurate diagnoses and choose the best possible treatment based on each patient’s unique cancer. The submitted ideas include ones that could help doctors better understand the molecular similarities between breast cancer and other solid tumors with a particular focus on tumors associated with triple negative cancer, a type of cancer that is less responsive to standard treatments and is typically more aggressive. GE is committed to a new approach at healthymagination that shines a spotlight on early-stage ideas to accelerate the researchers’ work and ultimately help patients sooner.

Beth Comstock, senior vice president and chief marketing officer, GE said, “We launched the Challenge as a call to action for oncology researchers, businesses, and other innovators around the world to accelerate innovation and help stop this deadly disease. It is often challenging for early stage research to grab the attention of seed investors. The Challenge has shown us that there are a remarkable number of breakthrough ideas out there that deserve promotion, investment and incubation.”

In addition to the $100,000 seed award, GE will provide support for each winner through mentorship and access to GE researchers and industry thought leaders with opportunity for expanded partnerships in the future.

“GE and Clarient focus on helping health providers understand and define the drivers of a patient’s particular cancer. The Challenge winners' work will change the future of fighting cancer,” said Carrie Eglinton-Manner, general manager of Clarient, the cancer diagnostics company acquired by GE in 2010. “In addition to the grant money, we will help mentor, develop and accelerate the growth of these winning ideas.”

The winners were selected by a panel of judges that included venture capital partners, GE executives, and several leading healthcare luminaries including former U.S. FDA Commissioner and National Cancer Institute Director, Dr. Andrew Von Eschenbach; Professor of Surgery and Director of the University of Michigan Breast Care Center, Dr. Lisa Newman; and cancer medicine specialist and Imperial College’s professor of cancer medicine, Dr. Justin Stebbing.

The five innovation Challenge award winners are:

• MyCancerGenome- Personalized Approach to Triple Negative Breast Cancer: Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee is developing MyCancerGenome, a free online cancer medicine resource and decision-making tool for physicians, patients, caregivers and researchers. It provides up-to-date information on what mutations make breast cancer grow and related treatment implications, including available genome-directed clinical trials for triple negative breast cancer.
• Creating Safer & Stronger Breast Implants with Cancer-fighting and Healing Properties: The University of Akron in Akron, Ohio is developing new materials for breast reconstruction to transform tissue expanders and implants into cancer-fighting and healing devices. Using coatings embedded with pharmaceutical agents the new device is expected to help fight infection, reduce inflammation, and possibly even target and destroy stray cancer cells.
• Identifying a Predisposition to Cancer Spread: Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida is working to understand the genetic "modifier" genes and their role in predisposition to the spread of cancer to other parts of the body following cancer onset. This research could form the basis of diagnostic testing for genes that place a patient at disproportionate risk for cancer spread and guide aggressiveness of treatment.
• Saving Lives in Developing Countries: For developing countries such as Uganda, breast ultrasound holds promise in identifying cancers in young women with palpable lumps. Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington and Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI) in Kampala are establishing a breast cancer screening program where women will receive education about breast cancer and those with symptoms will be offered clinical breast exam and breast ultrasound. Women with suspicious lumps will be referred to the UCI for tissue sampling and, if malignancy is diagnosed, treatment.
• Moving to Personalized Therapy for Triple Negative Breast Cancer: Researchers at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville, Tennessee have demonstrated that gene expression analysis reveals at least six distinct disease subtypes for triple negative breast cancer that likely respond differently to chemotherapy. Using this discovery, the Center is designing clinical trials with targeted therapy for select subtypes which will soon be offered to patients.

Information on the winners is available at www.healthymagination.com.

Launched in September, the Challenge is part of GE’s healthymagination commitment to accelerate cancer innovation by investing $1 billion in cancer technology research and development as well as improve care for 10 million cancer patients around the world by 2020. Additional strategic commercial partnership announcements from the Challenge will be made later in 2012. For additional details on the challenge, and to view the full terms and conditions visit healthymagination.com/challenge.

About GE

GE (NYSE: GE) works on things that matter. The best people and the best technologies taking on the toughest challenges. Finding solutions in energy, health and home, transportation and finance. Building, powering, moving and helping to cure the world. Not just imagining. Doing. GE works. For more information, visit the company's website at www.ge.com.

About GE’s healthymagination Initiative

Launched in May 2009, GE’s healthymagination initiative is focused on four critical needs: low-cost technology; healthcare IT; innovation accessible to all; and consumer-driven healthcare. GE has committed that by 2015 it will:

• Invest $3 billion in research and development to launch at least 100 innovations that will help deliver better care to more people at lower cost.
• Provide $2 billion in financing and $1 billion in technology to bring healthcare information technology to rural and underserved areas.
• Reduce the cost of procedures that use GE technologies and services by 15 percent and develop products tailored to underserved regions of the world.
• Reach 100 million more people every year with services and technologies essential for health.

More information at www.healthymagination.com.