Swiss medical equipment maker CorFlow Therapeutics has secured €44m in a Series B funding round to advance its platform for microvascular obstruction (MVO) in heart attack patients.
Jointly led by Broadview Ventures and Panakes Partners, the financing round received continued support from CorFlow’s initial VC investor and largest shareholder, 415 Capital.
Other participants include Merieux Equity Partners, Laerdal Million Lives Fund, Wellington Partners, M&L Investments, Unorthodox Ventures, KOFA Healthcare and Monte Carlo Capital.
As part of the transaction, David Prim from Broadview, Barbara Castellano from Panakes, Yoann Bonnamour from Merieux, and Rhiya Pau from Laerdal have joined the CorFlow Board.
David Prim said: “CorFlow has the potential to be the next significant breakthrough in treating coronary artery disease, and Broadview is delighted to be supporting this impressive team and technology.”
Barbara Castellano said: “This oversubscribed funding round gives us options to apply the technology in new ways, and in new geographies, where patients can benefit.”
Frederik Groenewegen said: “With the support of this first-class investor syndicate we now have the opportunity to collect the clinical data required to establish a new standard of heart attack care.”
CorFlow intends to use proceeds from the Series B round to fund the MOCA II (MVO with CoFI System Assessment II) study to obtain US regulatory approval for its CoFl system.
CorFlow’s CoFl system is being developed to provide timely, accurate and consistent detection of MVO, immediately after the reopening of the larger epicardial arteries with a stent.
It will provide the MVO measurement while patients are in the catheter laboratory and enable localised delivery of therapeutics to the microvasculature upon MVO diagnosis.
The study will be conducted in the US and Europe, to validate the accuracy of the CoFl system in diagnosing MVO in heart attack patients immediately after stent implantation.
In the US, the IDE study will compare CoFl’s diagnostic measurement of MVO with post-procedure contrast-enhanced cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMRI), the current gold standard for detecting MVO.
In Europe, it will evaluate whether localised delivery of therapeutics to the microvasculature immediately after stent implantation can improve outcomes in patients diagnosed with MVO.
CorFlow president and CEO Paul Mead said: “We are thrilled to have closed on this significant round of financing, backed by a top-tier global syndicate of medical technology investors.
“Recent data from over 70 patients in our MOCA I first in human trial and from our extensive preclinical program support our collective confidence that we can improve outcomes in patients who suffer heart attacks.
“There is overwhelming evidence now that microvascular conditions are a significant root cause of adverse outcomes in heart attack patients and other cardiovascular conditions.”
