AngioScore Inc., which has developed a new angioplasty catheter with a component that prevents balloon slippage, closed its fifth financing round yesterday, raising $30 million at an undisclosed value.
The round was led by Telegraph Hill Partners, which was joined by AngioScore's other international investors, UV Partners, Questmark Partners, Psilos Group Management, and California Technology Partners. The company's sole Israeli investor to date is Innomed Ventures, founded by Dalia Megido, which also participated in the latest round with the new fund it closed recently, 7 Health Ventures.
AngioScore was founded in 2003 by president Dr. Eitan Konstantino, formerly CEO of Advanced Stent Technologies, chief medical officer Dr. Gary Gershony, founder of Vascular Solutions, and Ephraim Heller, former founder of TheraSense Inc. which was acquired by Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT). According to IVC Online, the company, which operates primarily in the US, has raised $80 million, excluding yesterday's round.
AngioScore has developed a cardiac angioplasty catheter, called AngioSculpt, which features a shape memory alloy called Nickel Titanium or Nitinol. The alloy prevents the balloon from slipping from the point where the surgeon has positioned it, preventing the accidental opening of an entirely different section of the artery. The alloy also fits accurately between the artery walls, minimizing tears and splits caused during dilatation.
AngioScore claims its catheter can also be used to treat coronary arteries, which cannot be treated with standard angioplasty devices, due to extreme calcification or convolution, or in cases where the blockage is located at an artery bifurcation, thereby requiring patients to undergo bypass surgery.
AngioScore submitted the catheter to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for approval in 2005, and was permitted to use it treat leg arteries below the knee. In 2007 it received approval to also market the device for treatment of heart arteries, and it was then that the substantial sales began. Megido says that the company's sales have exceeded the projections in its business plan, and that it will end the year with sales of $10 million. At the same time, AngioScore is registering the product for use in other areas, such as peripheral arteries in the knee.
AngioScore's catheter could be used by up to a million patients a year in the US, and a further 1.5 million worldwide. The device has been granted CE Mark Certification in Europe for all uses. The company said in its announcement yesterday that it hoped to launch the device in Japan in the first half of 2008.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on October 11, 2007
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