Symetis SA, a privately held company developing an innovative percutaneous valve replacement program, announces today that it raised CHF 23 million in a new financing round co-led by Wellington Partners and Vinci Capital-Renaissance PME. Banexi Venture Partners has also joined the round together with existing investors Truffle Capital, Novartis Venture Fund, Aravis Venture as well as BiomedInvest and private investors.
The uniqueness of the AcurateTM is its self-positioning design, providing the physician with an unmatched positioning tolerance and ease of use. Symetis has completed its preclinical studies and is preparing a first-in-man clinical study to be initiated during the second half of 2009. In parallel, Symetis will initiate in-vivo testing and validation of its Acurate TF, a trans-femoral version of the Acurate concept.
Trans-catheter aortic valve replacement therapy (TAVR) is expected to grow from $100 million in 2008 to over $1 billion by 2015; the recent acquisition by Medtronic of two TAVR actors for over $1 billion is supporting this forecast. Driving the TAVR growth is the emergence of a new market segment (inoperable high risk patients) and a progressive transfer from "surgical" to "percutaneous" ones with the promise of reducing hospital stays, co-morbidity and costs. The unique self-positioning features of Symetis