Veran Medical Technologies has raised nearly $1 million for its imaging systems that help surgeons perform minimally invasive procedures.
The fundraise comes in the form of debt, options, warrants and other securities, according to a regulatory document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The funding came from three investors, and the company is looking to raise another $1 million, according to the document.
Veran hasn’t provided any public information on fundraising since May 2008, when it raised a $4.75 million (pdf) Series A round, which it said was its first institutional funding. That round was led by St. Louis-based Prolog Ventures and included funding from Advantage Capital Partners, which has an office in St. Louis.
The company also filed a regulatory document in August 2009 saying it had raised $1.4 million.
Upon receiving the Series A round, Veran moved to St. Louis from Nashville, where it was having trouble attracting institutional funding. At the time, Veran CEO Jerome Edwards lamented that Nashville venture capitalists weren’t particularly comfortable investing in device firms, instead preferring health information technology, surgery centers and “hospital rollups,” Venture Nashville Connections reported.
Veran’s IG4 Navigation imaging system allows doctors to view moving images and navigate medical instruments within organs, such as the lungs, kidneys and liver. Because the system allows for the viewing of moving, or “4-D” images, it eliminates the need for a CT scan every time a physician moves a needle during a procedure.
The system allows physicians to more safely target lesions, growths that are sometimes associated with cancer. The IG4 in February received U.S. regulatory clearance (pdf) for two new indications–ultrasound and fluoroscopic x-ray.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
In December, Veran announced a collaborative agreement (pdf) with GE Healthcare in which the companies validated the compatibility of the IG4 and one of GE’s imaging systems.
As of February, there were 14 of the IG4 systems in use in the U.S., according to a report from Vanderbilt University Medical Center (pdf).
A Veran spokesman didn’t immediately return a call or an e-mail.
