There aren't a lot of attractive options to treat nasal breathing disorders. Most are limited to unwieldy devices to aid breathing or surgical alteration of the nasal anatomy. Startup Aerin Medical hopes to offer a novel non-invasive approach--the use of non-ablative radiofrequency energy to target and remodel nasal tissues to treat breathing orders caused by anatomical obstruction and mucosal dysfunction.
The Sunnyvale, CA-based startup has raised a $16.7 million Series C financing to help back the device, the InFlux System. It's already been tested in clinical trials in more than 100 patients in the U.S. and Europe, in which the company said it alleviated symptoms with minimal discomfort and durable results.
"Our non-invasive treatments are well suited to bridge the enormous gap between medical management and surgical interventions for this very large group of patients," said Aerin CEO Fred Dinger, who has led a series of med tech startups, in a statement.
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| Aerin's InFlux System |
The only trial listed in ClinicalTrials.gov for Aerin Medical is a 33-patient pilot trial that was slated to have results primary endpoint data due earlier this year in January. In that single-arm trial, which is scheduled to wrap up in April, the InFlux System was used in patients with nasal airway obstruction. It used thermal coagulation of tissue in the nasal airway to accomplish that task.
The financing was completed in two closings: an initial close of $6.1 million led by San Antonio, TX-based early stage VC firm Targeted Technology Fund and a second closing of an additional $10.6 million led by family investment fund KCK Group. As part of the financing, Nael Kassar of KCK and Peter Savas of Targeted Technology Fund joined the board.
"We are extremely excited to have Targeted Technology and KCK as our lead investors. They are both experienced groups with track records of building highly innovative and successful companies," said Aerin's Dinger. "The funds will be utilized for building clinical evidence and establishing early commercialization in select markets."
Mark Deem, who is a Managing Partner at the prominent Menlo Park, CA-based medical device incubator The Foundry, sits on the Aerin board. Also, Dr. Thomas Fogarty, who founded the well-regarded Fogarty Institute for Innovation, is an advisor to the company.
- here is the announcement