V-Wave nets $70M in Series C financing for its heart shunt device

Israeli startup V-Wave netted $70 million in Series C financing for its implantable device for heart failure (HF) that the company will use as it gets ready for a pivotal IDE study.

Deerfield Management led the funding round. Other participants included healthcare funds Endeavour Vision, Quark Venture and Aperture Venture Partners. Previous investors that also took part in the round were Johnson & Johnson Innovation and Edwards Lifesciences, along with BRM Group, Pontifax, Pura Vida Investments, TriVentures, BioStar Ventures and Israel Secondary Fund.

The device directs excess blood away from the left ventricle, or the heart's main pump, to regulate pressure and prevent blood clots in patients. Elevated left atrial pressure is responsible for worsening symptoms and hospitalization in more than 90% of individuals with HF.

"As an interventional cardiologist focused on HF for the past two decades, I am excited that with this funding, we can pursue the science that will bring us a giant step closer to commercial release of an easy to implant device that can provide the hope for immediate and longer-term symptom relief, increased exercise capacity, decreased need for acute hospital admission, and reduced mortality with an improved quality of life for hundreds of thousands of suffering patients,” Dr. Neal Eigler, V-Wave’s chief executive, said in a statement.

The company said it received approval from the FDA to initiate a pivotal IDE study and will soon launch its clinical trial—the RELIEVE-HF study—to evaluate the device therapy in HF patients with Class III or ambulatory Class IV symptoms with preserved or reduced ejection fraction already receiving optimal therapies.

Globally, more than 26 million people suffering from chronic heart failure, which is the leading cause of hospitalizations in many countries, according to the company. In the U.S., chronic heart failure is the largest expense for Medicare.