Neuros Medical just nailed down $3.5 million in new venture funding. The Cleveland startup is developing a neurostimulation treatment to address amputee pain, and plans to use the new cash to advance those efforts.
Several months ago, the three-year-old company gained an investigational device exemption approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to launch a pilot clinical trial for the device treatment. Now underway, the effort is testing Neuros' high frequency Electrical Nerve Block technology to treat pain in amputees' residual limbs. The system includes an electrode/lead placed around a peripheral nerve. A pacemaker-sized generator powers the electrical impulses, according to the company. Kevin Kilgore and Niloy Bhadra of Case Western Reserve University developed the technology, the company's web site explains.
Already successful: A first-in-man feasibility study that led to significant improvement in pain levels, Neuros notes.
It's interesting to note the investors that participated in the new funding. Boston Scientific ($BSX) and Glengary LLC led the round, which also included new investors RiverVest Venture Partners, Blue Tree Allied Angels and ModelVest. Existing investors Case Tech Ventures, JumpStart Ventures, NorthCoast Angel Fund, Ohio Tech Angel Fund, Queen City Angel Fund III, Physician Investment Group also took part.
Neurostimulation is becoming an increasingly intriguing focus for device companies, and it is not surprising that Boston Scientific wants a stake in this. The company is already in the space with products such as the Precision Plus SCS system, an implant designed to treat chronic trunk/limb pain. St. Jude gained a CE mark last fall for a neurostimulation device designed to treat migraines, and Medtronic is also competing in the space. Other companies are developing neurostimulation-related products to treat depression and apnea, among other indications.
Either way, Neuros anticipates a sizeable market. More than 70 million Americans suffer from chronic pain lasting more than three months, according to statistics cited on the company's web site. The company wants to target patients that suffer from neuropathic pain, residual limb/neuroma pain, chronic migraine pain and chronic post surgical pain, according to its website.
- read the release