Israeli heart failure treatment solution developer Magenta Medical Ltd. has completed a financing round led by US venture capital fund New Enterprise Associates (NEA). NEA, one of the world's largest funds, is making its first investment in Israel. Existing investors Pitango Venture Capital and JVC Investment Partners and a group of private investors led by Prof. Jacques Seguin (CoreValve, ReCor) also participated in the round.
Magenta Medical did not disclose how much it raised, but the inclusion of NEA as an investor undoubtedly means that the round amounted to tens of millions of dollars. The company said that the money raised would probably be enough until approval is obtained from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for one of the company's two products. Magenta Medical raised $15 million in its previous financing round in 2017.
Heart failure, which can result from heart attacks, damage to a heart valve, and other conditions, is one of the Western world's most common chronic diseases and one of the most difficult and expensive to treat. Hospitalizations for heart failure exceed one million each year in the US alone, and every attack requiring hospitalization can also worsen the patient's condition.
Heart attacks feature accumulation of liquids in the body, specifically in the lungs, which can choke the patient. Magenta Medical CEO Dr. David Israeli, a former senior executive at Medtronic Israel and a partner in Pitango, explains that from the beginning, the company recognized the key function of the kidneys in regulating the imbalance in salts and liquids typical of severe heart failure.
Magenta Medical has developed the Transcatheter Renal Venous Decongestion (TRVD) System, which selectively reduces the renal venous pressure in order to reduce kidney congestion and improve blood flow to the kidneys and their functioning, while promoting fluid and sodium removal. The product was successfully tested in human clinical trials, and the company is now focusing on developing the next generation of the product.
"We have great aspirations for the technology that we developed, and we are confident that the know-how and resources around the table, led by NEA and Pitango, will put us on the road to success in the coming years," Israeli said.
Magenta Medical's second product is for treatment of patients undergoing high-risk heart catheterizations and patients hospitalized with cardiogenic shock, an indication of severe heart failure. The product, which provides temporary mechanical support for the left ventricle, is a miniaturized catheter-mounted arterial pump that moves blood from the left ventricle into the aorta, relieving the failing left ventricle for hours to days and serving as a robust bridge-to-recovery.
"We are extremely pleased to have Magenta Medical as our first-ever medical technology investment in Israel, as it represents to us the pivotal role Israeli companies play in global life sciences innovation," said NEA general partner and head of medtech investing Dr. Josh Makower.
"Magenta Medical is developing a very unique and potentially disruptive technology that should greatly advance the field of mechanical circulatory support," said NEA principal Dr. Tak Cheung.
"The addition of NEA to the roster of investors in Magenta Medical adds further credibility to the great potential of this company," said Pitango managing general partner and Magenta Medical director Zeev Binman. "We recognized this potential when the company was first founded, and we are immensely proud to have it in our portfolio."
Magenta Medical was founded by serial entrepreneurs Prof. Ehud Schwammenthal and Yosi Tuval, who previously founded Ventor Technologies, a medical device company acquired by Medtronic for $325 million in 2009. Ventor also developed a heart treatment device for replacing a heart valve in catheterization as a replacement for cardiac surgery.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on July 29, 2019
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