Devices & Diagnostics

Carmell Therapeutics raises $3M to develop blood plasma medical devices

Carmell Therapeutics, which is developing medical devices made of plastics created from blood plasma, has […]

Carmell Therapeutics, which is developing medical devices made of plastics created from blood plasma, has raised $3 million in investment funding for a series A round.

The Pittsburgh-based early stage company plans to use the funding to set up a manufacturing facility and collect data for a pilot study, CEO Alan West said.

“This was the first close, and we will be accepting some additional investments over the next few weeks to round out the round,” said West, a former vice president of research and development with Boston Scientific.

The equity funding was revealed in a document filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Nine investors participated.

Carmell’s products are biologically active plastics made of blood plasma to treat sports injuries to bone and connective tissue. The company refers to its plastics as “the ideal biomaterials” because they use the body’s own growth and regenerative factors to promote healing.

“Carmell’s plastics can be simply viewed as plastic forms of ultra-concentrated blood clots,” according to the company’s website.

The company’s first product is a surgical scaffold that’s placed arthroscopically between the bone and tendon to treat rotator cuff and tendon injuries. After it’s placed in the body, the scaffold deteriorates over a period of four to six weeks while treating the injury.

Carmell also is developing a second product, a bone putty.

The company is hoping that the pilot study will be successful enough to help it raise a larger series B investment round that would fund a clinical trial aimed at obtaining federal regulatory clearance to begin commercializing the scaffold, West said.

The A round was led by New Hampshire-based Harbor Light Capital Partners and included participation from Newlin Investment Company, Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse, Innovation Works, Ariel Savannah Angels and Blue Tree Allied Angels, West said.

Carmell was founded in 2007 to commercialize technology developed by Carnegie Mellon University and Allegheny General Hospital.

Shares0
Shares0