JenaValve Technology just added another $26.5 million to its expanding Series C round, which looks to have swelled to near $100 million.
The financing round was led by RMM and Valiance, and included Atlas Ventures, Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners, Gimv, Legend Capital, NeoMed Management and VI Partners.
The device company is building a next-gen transcatheter aortic valve implantation — a prosthesis used in surgical aortic valve replacement surgery. It largely targets the aortic stenosis market which, according to a study in the American College of Cardiology, is rather common as it affects about 12 percent of the elderly.
The company already has a CE mark for two indications — aortic valve stenosis and insufficiency — and is looking for more, including acceptance in the U.S. market. Indeed, the funding will go toward a series of clinical trials that will prep more of the company’s devices for European regulatory approval. It’ll also finish a U.S. feasibility study for its new aortic valve and transfemoral delivery system, the company said.
Transcatheter aortic valve implantation is a burgeoning technology in the cardiology space and shows much promise with its minimally invasive nature. But there’s a reason that regulators are moving carefully in this space, as seen in Nature Reviews Cardiology:
Treatment of aortic stenosis in high-risk surgical patients has been modified in the past 10 years owing to the introduction of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI). Several issues affecting outcomes with implantation of the first-generation TAVI devices remain unresolved, including haemorrhagic and vascular complications, neurological events, rhythm disturbances, and paravalvular leakage. Further technological improvements are, therefore, required before the indications for TAVI can be extended to young and low-risk patients with aortic stenosis.
