Company name: Bi02 Medical Inc.
Industry: medical devices.
Location: San Antonio, Texas.
Solution/product: The Angel Catheter is a “central venous catheter and inferior vena cava (IVC) filter combination device” that is designed to prevent pulmonary embolism in critically ill patients.
Money raised: $12 million in series C financing.
How it will be used: to commercialize the Angel Catheter.
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.
Investors: Remeditex Ventures, Incyte Ventures Targeted Technology Fund.
Management team: Christopher Banas, chairman and CEO; Luis Angel, chief medical officer; Paul Castella, chief financial officer.
Market: Currently the market for retrievable IVC filters like the Angel Catheter is about $250 million and growing at 11 percent annually, according to the company. There are several players in the space including Peripheral Vascular, Cordis Corporation (a division of Johnson & Johnson), Boston Scientific Corporation and Cook Medical. A 2007 study found that more than half of all diagnosed cases of pulmonary embolism occurs in patients who are in hospitals or nursing homes.
[Photo Credit: freedigitalphotos user Salvatore Vuono]
