Neuravi raises $21m Series B for thrombectomy device

Neuravi said today that it raised $21 million in a Series B  round for its Embotrap minimally invasive thrombectomy device.

“The intention of the funding round is to launch the device in Europe, to run the Arise program for the U.S., to attempt to bring the device for U.S. approval and to continue to develop further technologies in the field,” CEO Eamon Brady told MassDevice.com. “One of the things Neuravi has done that’s unique to all of our competition is we have launched a huge research effort over the last 5 years in understanding the properties of clots – the cause of ischemic stroke – and we’re going to continue to invest in that program.”

The Series B round was led by European equity firm Life Science Partners and joined by existing backers Fountain Healthcare Partners, Delta Partners and the Western Development Commission, Galway-based Neuravi said.

The Embotrap device functions by capturing clots and allowing blood flow to resume immediately after the clot has been secured, Brady told us. Neuravi’s device received CE Mark approval in the European Union in late 2014, he said.

“The device has some features that no other technology has. It’s the only device that traps the clot inside the device structure, and at the same time has a tiny micro-stent that creates a blood flow channel across the device and that allows the healing process to start immediately after deployment,” Brady said. “It has an in-built, 3-dimensional fragment-catching zone at its far, most distal end to capture any particles that might break up during the procedure. The device traps the clot and is removed from the patient and nothing is left behind.”

Brady said that the company has kicked off its U.S. clinical program and is slated to enroll patients in an investigational device exemption trial in the next few months.

“The whole stroke field has been turned on its head. If you go back over the last 20 years, there’s been 1 treatment for ischemic stroke approved over the last 30 years and that’s a drug called TPA, that was in the 1990s. Then suddenly, in the last 6 months, there have been a domino of large, randomized trials associated with these types of devices, called stent retrievers, and essentially this market now is poised for very rapid growth,” he said.

As part of the deal, LSP partners Anne Portwich and René Kuijten will join Neuravi’s board of directors, the company said.

“This is an exciting time to be backing a company dedicated to improving stroke therapy, given the recent series of positive trial results that have decisively demonstrated the value of endovascular treatment for large vessel occlusions. These are the most devastating types of stroke, creating a tremendous social and economic burden for patients, and improved treatment has the potential to both save lives and improve quality of life. The Neuravi team has impressed us tremendously with its thorough approach, from the clot research that informs the company’s technology development, to collaborations with leading experts in the treatment of stroke,” Portwich said in prepared remarks.

In 2012, Neuravi raised $6.5 million in a Series A financing round.

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