Cardiac Science Closer to Human Trials of a Portable Defibrillator

Cardiac Science Inc. has raised $1 million in a stock sale to underwrite human clinical trials scheduled to begin this year.

Chief Executive Howard Cooper said the first clinical trials will be conducted in medical centers in New York, Boston, Atlanta and Phoenix. A date for those tests is not yet known, he added.

The company is working on what could be the nation’s first portable heart defibrillator. The machine would be used to control irregular heartbeat in patients without confining them to their homes.

Cooper said the trials will center on approval of a bedside defibrillator. Testing of that device will eventually lead to clinical trials of the portable model.

In preparation for the trials, the company sold about 500,000 common shares to a private investor group to raise capital, Cooper said. H.J. Meyers & Co., an investment bank based in Beverly Hills, was the underwriter for the private placement.