Vivasure Medical has completed a Series C financing of €16.2m (US$18.3m). The round was led by Life Sciences Partners (The Netherlands), investing from its LSP Health Economics Fund, and co-led by Evonik Venture Capital (Germany), alongside Panakes Partners (Italy) with returning Series A and B investors led by Fountain Healthcare Partners (Ireland).
A company press release states that the funding will support European commercialisation of the company’s PerQseal technology to meet the growing demand for absorbable, percutaneous vessel closure products, as well as execution of a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulatory study.
The Vivasure closure device is the first product from the company’s PerQseal technology platform, and is the only approved fully bioabsorbable, sutureless and entirely synthetic option to close large-bore arteriotomies that result from percutaneous transcatheter procedures, including transcatheter aortic valve replacement and endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair. The device has been successfully evaluated in clinical studies, with patients treated in four European countries, achieving 97% device technical success with no major device-related complications. Long-term follow-up data has been collected to 12 months post-procedure, and CE mark was received in January 2016. The global market for large arteriotomy closure devices is growing rapidly and is expected to be more than US$500m by 2021.
“Patients with aortic valve stenosis, abdominal aortic aneurysms and other serious conditions are increasingly treated with minimally invasive percutaneous procedures,” said Gerard Brett, co-founder and chief executive officer of Vivasure Medical. “The Vivasure closure device is designed to be easy to use, allowing the surgeon and interventional physician to provide a complete repair at the access site, without leaving metal implants, sutures, or exogenous tissue behind. Our goal is to facilitate improved therapeutic results for patients over the open-surgery alternative, faster recovery times, and cost savings for the healthcare system.”
“We are excited to support this innovative company and its vision of improving outcomes for patients as it moves into commercialisation in the European Union and enters the USA,” said Anne Portwich, partner at Life Sciences Partners. “We look forward to working closely with Vivasure as the company continues to work toward gathering more data through clinical studies that will facilitate expansion of adoption in European markets and drive US approval and commercialisation of its first product.”
