More than 100 angel investors helped ALung Technologies Inc. in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to a $14 million fundraising round, according to Pop City.
ALung will use the latest investor capital to pay for ongoing clinical trials of its Hemolung Respiratory Assist System — a kind of artificial lung that removes carbon dioxide directly from a patient’s blood while infusing it with oxygen, the company said in a release.
Hemolung is expected to help patients with acute respiratory failure avoid having to breathe through a tube and ventilator while their lungs heal.
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“This financing will allow ALung to complete its clinical trial in Germany and subsequently commercialize the Hemolung System,” Peter DeComo, ALung’s chairman and CEO, in the release. “The ability of the company to secure this financing in the current economic climate reinforces the potential of the Hemolung technology to help patients heal more quickly while reducing the overall cost of healthcare.”
The German study is aimed at demonstrating the safety and performance of Hemolung. A U.S.-based pivotal trial is expected to follow.
“We are very excited about the early results coming out of our clinical trial in Germany,” Nicholas Kuhn, the company’s chief operating officer, said in the release. “We look forward to completing our clinical trial and introducing the Hemolung to physicians and patients in the near future.”
ALung plans to begin commercializing its system by next year in Europe and by 2013 in the United States, DeComo told Pop City. ALung has added positions in operations, manufacturing, clinical affairs and finance, bringing its employee count to 21.
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Eagle Ventures, a Pittsburgh private equity firm, led the financing. Birchmere Ventures, a Pittsburgh-based early stage venture capital firm, as well as new and existing individual investors also participated in the round, ALung said.
The deal was the largest ever financed by Mel Pirchesky, president of Eagle Ventures, according to Pop City. ALung’s device faces little competition and is eying a market share potential of $2 billion.
“People like to say there’s no money for startups,” Pirchesky told Pop City. “I’m living proof that’s not the case.”
ALung was founded in 1997 by Dr. Brack Hattler, a cardiothoracic surgeon at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and Bill Federspiel, director of the Artificial Lung Laboratory at the university’s McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine.