Accumetrics, Inc. Announces $28.8 Million Financing and Initiation of Pivotal Clinical Trial
SAN DIEGO, Feb. 21 -- Accumetrics, Inc. a privately-held medical device company and maker of the VerifyNow® family of tests that measure patient response to antiplatelet drugs, announced today that it has raised $28.8 million in its Series D financing. The syndicate was led by Arnerich Massena & Associates, Inc. and BBT Fund, L.P. Also participating in the round were previous investors: Essex Woodland Health Ventures, RiverVest, PTV Sciences, KB Partners and Kaiser Permanente Ventures.
"We feel Accumetrics will play a major role in personalized medicine by reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease and improving patient well-being. The company is late stage; they have a patented technology platform, multiple reimbursed and FDA cleared products that provide useful information to assist physicians in their care of patients regarding antiplatelet medications. This financing also supports a major clinical trial to link individualized therapy to improved clinical outcomes," said Anthony Arnerich, President and CEO, Arnerich Massena and Associates, Inc.
Because millions of patients are prescribed Plavix® and aspirin to lower the risk of coronary heart disease worldwide, the need to tailor antiplatelet therapy and improve clinical outcome is significant. Under the direction of the Scripps Advanced Clinical Trials center, Accumetrics is sponsoring a 6000 patient, multi-center trial, called GRAVITAS (Gauging Responsiveness With A VerifyNow Assay-Impact On Thrombosis And Safety) to establish platelet function testing with VerifyNow as the standard of care. The Executive Committee comprises a group of nationally recognized physicians in the field of cardiology and includes Matthew Price, MD (Principal Investigator), Eric Topol, MD, Paul Teirstein, MD, and Christopher Cannon, MD.
"The GRAVITAS trial, using VerifyNow to gauge patients' response is prototypic of the future of individualized medicine," said Matthew Price, MD, Director, Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory, Scripps Clinic, La Jolla, California. "Not everyone responds the same way to current anti-platelet medications, so why should we treat our patients as if they did? The results of this trial will help physicians make clinical decisions to maximize safety and improve outcomes for a large number of patients taking anti-platelet therapy."
"Completion of this $28.8 million financing enables us to initiate the GRAVITAS study and positions the company for commercial success," said Steven Frankel, CEO. "This financing is recognition of the steady progress we've made focusing on surgical procedures where platelet function testing has immediate clinical relevance and gives us an excellent foundation in the hospital setting. We believe the results of the GRAVITAS trial will establish the VerifyNow system as a routine diagnostic tool."
About Accumetrics (http://www.accumetrics.com)
Accumetrics is committed to advancing medical understanding of platelets and enhancing quality of care for patients at a risk of cardiovascular disease by providing industry-leading diagnostic tests for platelet function assessment.
VerifyNow is the first, simple and accurate system for measuring the individual response to multiple antiplatelet agents. Addressing every major antiplatelet drug, including FDA-cleared products for aspirin, Plavix®, ReoPro®, and Integrilin®, the VerifyNow system provides a valuable tool to help guide treatment decisions.