Health: Reva Medical raises $3.8 million, just to keep the lights on

A $3.8 million capital raising can be exciting news but maybe not so much for the shareholders of Reva Medical (ASX: RVA). The company announced it had received the funding but all it would do is “fund operations on an interim basis”.

The company has been suspended since February 20 and had admitted the suspension will continue for some months, “until plans for a broader restructure are finalised”.

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Shareholders have been told the company expects this will occur by June 30 although it was only on March 13 it announced the suspension would end once this financing had been secured.

Two weeks before it was suspended, Reva announced a 44% cut in its San Diego workforce to 22 employees. Reva CEO, Reggie Groves, said the move was to “align with the current market conditions”.

Reva president Jeffrey Anderson told Stockhead</> “we have interim funds for operating the business but cannot speculate nor comment on the long term viability of the company”.

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Reva specialise in manufacturing medical devices known as bioresorbable polymers to treat artery diseases. Unlike traditional, metallic stents, bioresorbable polymers can be absorbed into the body. Their advantage is that – as foreign tissue can – they will not cause an inflammatory response.

Prior to being suspended, Reva shares fell 64% in the preceding 12 months.

Reva Medical (ASX: RVA) share price in the 12 months prior to its suspension.

In other ASX health news today:

PainChek (ASX: PCK) has announced another residential aged care (RAC) provider had come onboard. The app, which detects the presence of pain through photographs of a person’s face, will be rolled out at 28 Queensland RAC homes run by Churches of Christ in Queensland, which comprise of 1,900 aged care beds in total. The rollout will commence in May and will be paid for through an annual subscription licence.

PainChek CEO, Phillip Daffas, claimed PainChek was “fast becoming the new standard for pain assessment within Australian aged care”.

“Today, close to 4,000 residents across 62 aged care sites have licensed access to the PainChek technology. In less than a month we have effectively doubled the number of contracted aged care beds (from 2,160 to 3,780) and aged care facilities (from 30 to 62).”