InfraReDx’s Long Road To Commercialization Continues With Latest Financing

Article preview from Start-Up - September, 2013

InfraReDx raised $25 million in late August, another step in its long journey to change the standard of care for coronary artery disease. With the latest financing, the company has raised some $175 million since its founding in 1998, and although it still has far to go, in that length of time InfraReDx, and an understanding of coronary Artery disease, have come a long way.

InfraReDx’s Long Road To Commercialization Continues With Latest Financing

Article preview from Start-Up - September, 2013

Through good and bad financing climates, InfraReDx Inc., a pioneer in improving the understanding of the vascular lesions that cause coronary artery disease, continues to attract investors’ interest. In late August, the company raised another $25 million, increasing its total funding to some $175 million since its founding in 1998.  Even at that level of investment, the firm, by its own admission, still has a long way to go on its long journey to change the standard of care for coronary artery disease.

With that said, there is no doubt that InfraReDx has made important progress in this complex area, and investors continue to have confidence in the company’s approach. Company founder James Muller, MD, a cardiologist and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, was one of first to coin the phrase “vulnerable plaque” back in 1989, giving form to the idea that there is a certain kind of lipid-rich plaque that can cause heart attacks, even in the absence of significant stenosis, by rupturing and creating a thrombus that blocks the artery. InfraReDx has been unwavering in its mission to come up with a new detection tool to more accurately identify lipid core plaques so that physicians can determine the best course of treating them before they get the chance to cause the first heart attack.

The recent funding was provided by Nipro Corp., InfraReDx’s collaborator in Japan, which is spearheading the Japanese regulatory process for the company’s TVC Imaging System in that country. With the financing, Nipro gets a 12% equity stake and a seat on the plaque detection company’s board of directors. InfraReDx president and CEO Donald Southard anticipates regulatory approval and a market launch in Japan in the first half of 2014.

Continued...

To read this article in its entirety, purchase now, as a PDF and recieve it immediately via email. Or get it free when you subscribe to Start-Up.

About Start-Up

No publication reviews leading edge companies and technology better than Start-Up. Each issue of Start-Up profiles the most important new product companies, identifies the hottest technology areas, reviews funds flowing into private companies and investment trends, and reports on university tech transfer licensing. Industries covered: pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical equipment & devices, and in vitro diagnostics.

Plus:
To find out about more about more about Elsevier Business Intelligence's medical device publications and databases, multi-user access and/or advertising with Medical Devices Today, please contact Kristy Kennedy at (480) 985-9512