PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania — ALung Technologies Inc. has raised $3.3 million in equity as part of an intended $10 million offering, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
The company is developing a respiratory-assistance system it calls the Hemolung, which delivers oxygen directly into the blood using a catheter into the femoral or jugular vein. The technology is intended for patients with acute respiratory failure and could allow such patients to avoid having to breathe through a tube or ventilator.
With the Hemolung patients can receive oxygen, but unlike intubation they can still talk and eat, and do not need to be sedated. The company says the process allows patients’ lungs to heal and it cuts the time spent in the hospital. The 4-foot-tall Hemolung machine weighs about 150 pounds.
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An ALung spokeswoman declined comment in the midst of the company’s “ongoing offering.” Presumably, the company is looking at the hoped-for $10 million fundraise as its Series A round. It’s unclear from whom ALung raised the $3.3 million.
In October, the company raised $2.5 million from private investors. ALung said at the time it would use the cash to fund human clinical trials in Germany, with 20 patients, and India, with five patients. About a year earlier, the company reported a $1.8 million fundraise, along with the hiring of former Renal Solutions Chief Executive Peter DeComo as its CEO.
If the trials proceed as hoped, ALung could begin selling the Hemolung in Europe next year and the U.S. in 2012. The company expects to begin a 200-patient U.S. trial next year.
As of January, ALung had raised a total of $16 million from investors and $12 million from federal grants, the Post-Gazette reported. ALung has also received $200,000 in funding from economic development group Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse. The company has no revenue, according to the regulatory filing.
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The company suffered a tragedy last year when Dr. Brack Hattler, co-inventor of ALung’s technology, drowned while competing in a mini-triathlon in New Jersey.
