BioView Ltd., which has developed an automated diagnostic system for leukemia and bone marrow cancer, has filed a prospectus for an IPO on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE).
BioView president and CEO Dr. Opher Shapira and VP product development Yuval Harari founded the company in 2000, which has raised $6 million to date and is based in Rehovot. The company is owned by Orbotech Ventures, Marathon Venture Capital Fund (TASE:MARA) (which owns 15.4%), Gilbridge Holdings, and several small private investors.
BioView has developed a device to automatically diagnose cancer symptoms in blood and urine samples, replacing tests by human technicians, and sometimes providing more accurate results. The device includes a microscope that photographs the sample and can identify cells whose shape marks them as cancer cells. Automation makes it possible to conduct several tests simultaneously.
BioView obtained US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for the device in September 2003, and sales have totaled several million dollars. In October 2005, the FDA approved BioView’s diagnostic device for bladder cancer.
BioView’s prospectus is the second filed with the TASE by a life sciences company since New Year’s, after Medical Compression Systems Ltd. (MCS) filed a prospectus last week. In contrast to companies that filed prospectuses in 2005, both BioView and MCS have already obtained regulatory marketing approval, including from the FDA, and have had initial sales.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on January 9, 2006