Vectorious Medical Technologies has raised cash to trial an implant for monitoring left atrial pressure in congestive heart failure patients, Globes reports. The series B round will fund a device the Israel-based company sees improving outcomes and cutting costs in an indication dogged by stubbornly high mortality rates.
Vectorious’ answer to the solidly double-digit one-year mortality rate of heart failure patients is a miniature implant. Following delivery via a minimally invasive procedure, the device gathers data on blood flow in the left atrium. The data are transmitted via what Vectorious describes as a “push button” system that incorporates an external home unit.
If the hemodynamic pressure data warn physicians about an upcoming worsening of the condition of a heart failure patient, the device could enable earlier, more effective interventions. Giving physicians a look inside the heart could also reduce the number of unnecessary visits and procedures.
Vectorious has persuaded some notable investors of the merits of its approach. Broadview Ventures, a Boston-based fund specializing in cardiovascular disease, led the round with China-Israel fund GEOC. Vectorious also pulled in cash from Israeli business and investment leaders including Zohar Gillon, Yehuda Zisafel, Nava Zisafel, Ph.D., Zohar Zisafel and Ari Raved.
The syndicate is investing more than $7 million in Vectorious. When a $2.2 million grant from the European Union and an Israeli funding group is factored in, Vectorious has $9.5 million in fresh funds to bankroll its plans. Vectorious will use the money to grow its workforce and run clinical trials to support a filing for approval in Europe.
Some deep-pocketed rivals are racing Vectorious to market. In January, secretive FIRE1 raised $50 million to support work on its remote heart-monitoring technology. And manufacturers of cardiac resynchronization therapies and other electronic devices already implanted in heart failure patients have also added the ability to remotely monitor some biomarkers, although doubts remain about the outcomes achieved by these features.