NinePoint Medical Inc. raised a $33 million Series A round to develop an in vivo pathology device the company hopes will eventually allow doctors to diagnose and treat cancerous cells during biopsy procedures.
NinePoint said its putting down roots in Cambridge, Mass., with plans to hire another 25 workers and eventually run a manufacturing facility there.
NinePoint is led by president and CEO Dr. Charles Carignan, formerly Boston Scientific Corp.’s (NYSE:BSX) chief medical officer. Carignan was also an executive vice president and CMO at Novasys Medical Inc., which makes the Renessa urinary incontinence treatment for women. Carignan also put it stints at Conceptus Inc. (NASDAQ:CPTS), where he led the team that developed the Essure female sterilization device.
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MassDevice Staff Website The Massachusetts Medical Devices Journal is the online journal of the medical devices industry in the Commonwealth and New England, providing day-to-day coverage of the devices that save lives, the people behind them, and the burgeoning trends and developments within the industry.
NinePoint’s device is an in vivo platform designed to enable real-time review of advanced tissue images during biopsies and other procedures. The aim is to eventually allow gastroenterologists to diagnose and treat cancerous or otherwise suspicious cells during a single procedure.
“With the support and strategic guidance from our founders and advisors, we believe we can successfully develop and commercialize a groundbreaking portfolio of medical devices that may dramatically improve diagnostic and treatment options for patients and physicians,” Carignan said in prepared remarks. “We also look forward to positively impacting the Boston-area economy with the creation of new jobs at our Cambridge facility as we focus on building out a dynamic team to achieve our goals.”
The funding round was led by Third Rock Ventures, its first seeding and launch of a medical device maker, and Prospect Venture Partners, according to a press release.
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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.
The Massachusetts Medical Devices Journal is the online journal of the medical devices industry in the Commonwealth and New England, providing day-to-day coverage of the devices that save lives, the people behind them, and the burgeoning trends and developments within the industry.
