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| Cryothermic technology with liner extended from a sheathed probe--Courtesy of Channel Medsystems |
Emeryville, CA-based startup Channel Medsystems has raised $23.9 million out of a potential total of $29.5 million, according to an SEC filing. The financing is the company's largest to date by far--in similar filings it said it had raised $6 million in debt last year and almost $10 million in equity in 2013.
The cash will go to back the company's novel cryothermic technology, which is used via a self-contained, handheld device to reduce heavy menstrual bleeding. It is expected to be used in a physician office setting, rather than a clinic or a hospital. The device uses a liner that conforms to the shape of each individual uterine cavity to achive consistent ablation throughout; the treatment time is 2 minutes and 30 seconds.
Given its discrete nature, the device does not require use in combination with any other equipment, which limits potential related expenditures. But it does require ultrasound to confirm placement prior to the procedure.
Channel Medsystems last released data on its cryothermic energy ablation device in November 2013. It found then that the device could be well-tolerated without general anesthesia or conscious sedation. Currently approved methods of uterine ablation may require general, epidural or local anesthesia, with some procedures occurring in a doctor's office.
"This procedure appears to facilitate an appropriate depth of ablation of the endometrium, from a full-thickness ablation of the body of the uterus to a thinner ablation that is desirable in the cornua and lower uterine segment," said Dr. James Coad, a pathologist from West Virginia University and co-author of the published data, in a statement at the time. "The precision in the depth of ablation is a key factor in achieving an effective outcome without compromising the function of the underlying uterine tissue."
Channel Medsystems came out of San Francisco,CA-based medical device incubator TheraNova. Investors in this financing include InCube Ventures and Scientific Health Development.
- here is the SEC filing