Enopace Biomedical Ltd. has raised $7 million from Italian cardiovascular diseases medical devices company Sorin Group SlA (BIT: SRN). Enopace is developing a neuromodulation system for the treatment of congestive heart failure. The company will use the proceeds to finance initial clinical studies of its technology and further develop its minimally invasive product which stimulates the heart tissue to improve blood flow.
Enopace CEO Amir Dagan said, "The innovative implant is inserted via catheter without the need for invasive coronary surgery. It improves heart function by easing the pressure in the left ventricle."
Caesarea-based Enopace was founded in 2008 and has ten employees. It is based on technology invented by serial entrepreneur Yossi Gross, a founder of Biocontrol Medical Ltd., VisionCare Ltd., TransPharma Medical Ltd., and many other companies.
Enopace's other investor is Rainbow Medical Ltd., which was founded in 2007 by Leon Recanati's GlenRock Israel to foster Gross's inventions. Sorin's investment in Enopace is believed to be the first large investment in a Rainbow portfolio company by a major medical devices company.
Sorin Group CEO Andre-Michel Ballester said, "Through Enopace Biomedical, Sorin Group will support the development of a unique medical device solution for today's most urgent, unmet clinical need. This segment represents one of the largest and fast-growing market opportunities in the medical device field."
Sorin says that heart failure is the largest unmet clinical need, with the highest associated healthcare costs, in the cardiovascular world today. The US healthcare system spends over $40 billion a year on heart failure patients. It adds that neuromodulation systems represent a significant opportunity to expand the clinical indications for device-based heart failure therapy.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on October 17, 2011
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