Michigan’s Ostial Solutions raises $1.2M for stent-placement system, looks toward acquisition

The company hopes to be acquired soon by a major device maker so it can take advantage of a much larger sales force.

KALAMAZOO, Michigan — Stent-placement device maker Ostial Solutions LLC has raised $1.2 million in funding and is looking to be acquired.

“We’ve taken this as far as we can go and we’re looking to hand it off to someone else,” said CEO R. Kevin Plemmons. “For the right price, of course.”

The company’s Ostial Pro Stent Positioning System received clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration two years ago and has been on the market for 15 months, Plemmons said. The device is a catheter that uses gold-plated “feet” that open up and rest against the wall of a blood vessel, allowing for more precise stent placement.

Plemmons said the company is looking to be acquired by a large device maker such as Medtronic, Boston Scientific or Johnson & Johnson. “To make this the standard of care in the industry, we need to get it into the hands of a sales force that has hundreds of reps in the field,” he said.

Two companies are doing due diligence on Ostial now, Plemmons said. Ostial has a sales force of six people, but will look to add to it as a result of the new funding, he said.

Ostial’s device is designed for patients suffering from a class of arterial diseases known as aorto-ostial, in which lesions form at the joining of a smaller artery with a large one. Physicians frequently miss the target site when placing a stent in complex ostial cases, the company says. The device has been used in 1,300 instances, Plemmons said.

Shares0
Shares0