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| CeQur CEO Douglas Lawrence |
Swiss diabetes device maker CeQur roped in $100 million in a Series C round for its patchlike insulin infusion device, helping the company ramp up operations and launch its product next year.
Woodford Investment Management and Arthurian Life Sciences led the round, the existing investors including Endeavour Vision, Schroder & Co., Banque SA and VI Partners also chipping in funds. The Lucerne, Switzerland-based company plans to use the cash to fuel clinical trials and regulatory activities, scale up manufacturing and prepare to roll out its second-generation insulin infusion device in 2016, it said in a statement.
CeQur markets its PaQ product as an alternative to injections for individuals with Type 2 diabetes, as it delivers insulin through a patch rather than a needle and can be worn for three days. The company has already manufactured more than 12,000 of its devices to date, and plans to complete three clinical studies with patients who transferred from insulin injection therapy to PaQ before launching the device next year, it said in a statement.
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| CeQur's PaQ device--Courtesy CeQur |
"Today when people with Type 2 diabetes progress to insulin they need to inject, and current alternatives have cost and complexity limitations," CeQur CEO Doug Lawrence said in a statement. "PaQ will provide a superior alternative to injection therapy and allow us to build a high-growth business in the emerging category of simple and cost-effective insulin infusion to benefit patients, physicians and payors."
Meanwhile, CeQur continues to rake in funds to support its PaQ insulin delivery device. In September 2013, the company nabbed $27 million in Series B financing for its system, which nabbed EU approval in 2012. The devicemaker told FierceMedicalDevices in 2013 that it would submit its product for stateside approval in early 2014, shooting to gain FDA 510(k) clearance the next year. But so far these plans have not materialized.
CeQur is not the only company setting its sights on wearable insulin devices. Insulet ($PODD) is developing wearable insulin pumps, but dealt with a costly recall of its OmniPod system earlier this year after problems turned up at its Billerica, MA-based manufacturing facilities. Still, the company said in its mid-August earnings call that the problem has been corrected and that the plant is back on track.
- read CeQur's statement
Special Report: FierceMedicalDevices' 2013 Fierce 15 - CeQur