Flow Forward adds $1m to Series A, touts study results

 

Early stage vascular device developer Flow Forward said today it closed an additional $1 million in Series A funding and touted the completion of a preclinical study and computational fluid dynamics study of its Arteriovenous Fistula Eligibility system.

The Olathe, Kan.-based company’s AFE system is a small external blood bump designed to temporarily stimulate flow-mediated vein dilation to aid in the creation of arteriovenous fistula and arteriovenous graft access sites and to increase success rates after such surgeries.

Flow Forward said it closed an additional $1 million on its Series A financing round, led by a group of individual investors and bringing the total raised in the round up to $7 million. Funds will support continued development of its AFE system, the company said.

“The new funding provides Flow Forward with the resources to continue the development and testing of the AFE System. Currently, there are more than 2.3 million people worldwide on hemodialysis who depend on a vascular access site to receive this life-saving treatment. Unfortunately, most of these patients will, at some point, experience failure of their vascular access site, which can often lead to a cycle of painful, expensive repair and replacement procedures. Outflow vein and inflow artery diameter are critical factors in achieving and maintaining a functional AVF. Based on our bench and preclinical study results, we believe the AFE System could provide larger AVF inflow artery and outflow vein diameters, higher AVF flow rates, greater AVF maturation rates, faster AVF maturation, and increases in AVF primary and secondary patency rates,” prez & CEO Dr. F. Franano said in a press release.

The company also touted the completion of a preclinical and CFD studies which it says will support the continued development of its AFE system. Preliminary results from the preclinical study were presented last November at the 43rd annual VEITH symposium, while a summary of the CFD study was presented in a poster at the American Society of Nephrology’s annual meeting last November.

“We believe developing a better understanding of the causes of AVF failure can aid in the development of medical devices and treatment methods to increase AVF maturation success, and primary and secondary AVF patency rates. It is encouraging to see that the AFE System can consistently deliver optimal doses of wall shear stress to veins using non-pulsatile blood flow, providing an ideal environment for rapid vein maturation,” CEO Dr. Franano said in a prepared statement.

 

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