Medical Devices Today

Neuravi Ltd.

Article preview from Start Up - September, 2010

Neuravi Ltd.'s thrombus capture and removal device for acute stroke patients is designed to disengage offending clots from the wall of brain arteries, and then scaffold the clot inside a microfiber net during removal from the patient. The company thinks its technology represents a major advancement for the treatment of stroke because currently available products do not offer an effective clot disengagement system.

In Glaucoma, Devices Go Eye-to-Eye with Drugs

Article preview from Start Up - September, 2010

Glaucoma is of serious interest to VCs and strategic investors because of its sheer size; the disease affects 3 million people, most of them managed by drugs. Glaucoma drugs have created a $4 billion market, but have several problems, the greatest of which is non-compliance. Glaukos and other device companies aim to introduce devices that are safe and efficacious enough to compete directly with drugs, rather than standing in as an alternative to today's glaucoma surgeries reserved for end-stage patients. Glaukos recently marked a first of its kind victory; with a tiny implantable ophthalmic stent, Glaukos emerged from a PMA clinical trial that convinced an FDA panel of the benefit-to-risk ratio of its approach when used as a first-line therapy in a select group.

Medtech Risk Capital? Anything But. A VC Roundtable from IN3

Article preview from Start Up - September, 2010

A year and a half after the September 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers and the official start of the economic recession, a panel of venture capitalists and other financiers in the medical device industry came together at the IN3 meeting in Boston. We asked them if they've had to change the way they look at deals. What is the trade-off between expensive, de-risked later stage deals and the kinds of returns that can be achieved by backing a winning company from start to finish? Where would they place their bets: cost-effective technologies for tried-and-true markets or novel products for unmet clinical needs, the "evolutionary vs. revolutionary" debate? And what can one do about tired syndicates? Our panel lets us in on the kinds of discussions they've been having around the table at weekly partners' meetings.

VC Investment In Diagnostics And Eyes Delivering Strongest Returns

Article preview from Start Up - September, 2010

A five-year review of returns from medical device mergers and acquisitions.

SurgiQuest Inc.

Article preview from Start Up - July, 2010

Fundamental technologies are still wanting to encourage the migration of surgeries to a single-incision approach. SurgiQuest has a proprietary platform that addresses a long list of limitations hampering surgical access through traditional trocars.

Women's Health: Building Interventional Gynecology

Article preview from Medtech Insight- August, 2010

This article was adapted from "Building Interventional Gynecology," which appeared in START-UP, June 2010.

Ovesco Endoscopy AG

Article preview from Start Up - July, 2010

With technology licensed from the University of Tuebingen, Ovesco Endoscopy has set out to address one of the biggest challenges of NOTES procedures: achieving closure of the gastric wall while working through a flexible endoscope. Ovesco has developed a clipping system that imitates the mechanics - the geometry and force pattern - of a surgical suture, but with advantages.

Cadence, VCs Relieve J&J;'s Pain, Map Out A Clever Exit In The Process

Article preview from Start Up - July, 2010

When J&J offered to sell its Ionsys pain-relief patch at a fire-sale price last year, Cadence Pharmaceuticals' management team saw a diamond in the rough. But the specialty pharma didn't have the cash or the focus to take on a new project. Enter Frazier Healthcare Ventures, which organized an investor syndicate that teamed with Cadence management on a deal with enough moving parts to make Rube Goldberg proud. The arrangement birthed Incline Therapeutics Inc., an independent, privately held start-up backed by $43.5 million in venture money.

EndoControl SAS

Article preview from Start Up - July, 2010

EndoControl's founders bet there are large market applications where surgeons will want to reach for a single-function, low-cost robot to lend a helping hand. EndoControl has developed the ViKY system, a motorized endoscope holder compatible with any endoscope, that responds to a surgeon's voice or foot command.

As Some VCs Run On Empty, Others Are Topping Off The Tank

Article preview from Start Up - July, 2010

New money is increasingly hard to come by for life sciences venture capital firms. Start-Up tracks VCs to determine which firms have older vintage funds and which have plenty of fresh capital to invest.