PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania — ThermalTherapeutic Systems, which is developing a portable device to inject fluids into sections of the body, raised $2.75 million to bring its product to market.
The company in July submitted its application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and in August closed on $750,000 in capital. This latest funding would be a “catalyst to launch our technology,” Chief Executive Officer Raymond Vennare stated in a press release.
ThermalTherapeutic’s 29-pound device is a foot high, about a foot deep and about a foot-and-a-half tall. It delivers fluids into the abdomen and chest cavity and can handle a variety of heated and unheated solutions. One of its primary uses would be delivering chemotherapy drugs that could then effectively bathe tissue in the treatment. The device delivers drugs quickly, which can trim the length of a treatment.
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.
Originate Ventures lead this round, and ThermalTherapeutic’s previous investors include the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse and Innovation Works.
Vannare once ran a multimedia software business and served as a leading executive in two medical companies: ImmunoSite and TissueInformatics (the latter of which was acquired by digitla pathology company BioImagene in 2006).
