Israel's CartiHeal doubled its fundraising haul ahead of the launch for Agili-C, the company's implantable cartilage-regeneration device. After snagging $5 million in February, CartiHeal added another $5 million to close the round, the company reported.
Agili-C got its CE mark this year and is currently undergoing post-approval studies in Europe, with a planned 2013 commercial launch. The implantable tech is designed to treat cartilage and osteochondral defects, regenerating hyaline cartilage in joints without growth factors, stem cells or cell expansion methods, the company says.
As Globes reports, Agili-C contains no living tissue, unlike most similar products. Instead, it combines aragonite and hyaluronic acid into a biocompatible tech that can help prevent the need for joint-replacement surgeries in patients.
Getting the device on the market in Europe and Israel is just step one for CartiHeal, which estimates the market for cartilage-repair techs at up to $3 billion. And the company is confident its product can regenerate more cartilage at a quicker rate than anything else on the market, citing clinical trial data. "Biopsies and MRIs show the regeneration of hyaline cartilage as early as 6 to 12 months following implantation," CEO Nir Altschuler said in a statement. "This is nothing short of a technological breakthrough."
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