AVS Rakes in $20M to Advance Plaque-shattering Arterial Illness Remedy

Boston-based medical system firm AVS (Amplitude Vascular Techniques) raised $20 million in Sequence B funding on Thursday to deliver its arterial illness remedy nearer to FDA clearance. The financing spherical, which brings the startup’s whole funding so far to about $22 million, was led by BioStar Capital.

A workforce of clinicians and engineers from the College of Michigan based AVS in 2017 to deal with severely calcified arterial illness. The medical system firm’s objective is to create a brand new system for pulsatile intravascular lithotripsy (PIVL) — a technique of breaking apart calcified tissue in arteries through the use of strain waves.

“AVS is creating a brand new remedy possibility for PIVL in each peripheral artery and coronary circumstances,” CEO Mark Toland mentioned in an e-mail. “PIVL is an rising, minimally invasive remedy that has proven super promise in addressing vascular calcification, which will increase the chance of coronary heart assaults, strokes and blood clots, and might result in limb amputations. By including a brand new system to the market, we will improve affected person entry to essentially the most superior therapies.”

The system that AVS is creating makes use of strain waves to shatter calcium that has constructed up in arteries. Toland steered that folks give it some thought like breaking apart a bag of ice earlier than filling a cooler — you need to use sufficient pressure to interrupt up the ice, however not a lot that the bag bursts open fully. 

The usual of remedy for arterial plaque buildup is a balloon angioplasty and stents, and people therapies are made by corporations equivalent to Boston Scientific and Medtronic. However intravascular lithotripsy is much less invasive. The present market chief for intravascular lithotripsy is Shockwave Medical. The corporate has the one established enterprise mannequin on this house and was projected to make $500 million in income final yr, Toland mentioned.

Shockwave’s know-how makes use of an acoustic strain shockwave, which has a really excessive amplitude however low frequency, Toland declared. In distinction, AVS’ system makes use of low-intensity, high-frequency pulses to interrupt up calcium buildup and restore blood movement to the artery, he defined.

Earlier than it may well significantly compete with Shockwave, AVS should full its scientific testing and earn FDA clearance for its system — a feat Toland mentioned the corporate expects “someday in 2024.” As soon as cleared, the know-how will likely be utilized in outpatient procedures.

AVS has begun a scientific trial for its system’s use in sufferers with peripheral arterial illness, and it’s only the second profitable human research for intravascular lithotripsy, Toland mentioned. Dr. Jon George, an interventional heart specialist on the College of Pennsylvania Well being System, has helped lead the research. Toland mentioned that when Dr. George was going over preliminary outcomes, he famous that sufferers collaborating within the research reported a discount in leg ache, improve in blood movement to the leg and enchancment of their capacity to stroll.

AVS’ new funding will likely be funneled into two most important areas: the acceleration of scientific trials for peripheral arterial illness functions, in addition to product growth for coronary circumstances. 

Regardless of harsh financial headwinds, finishing AVS’ Sequence B funding spherical didn’t take any longer than its first, Toland declared. 

“The macroeconomic challenges that each one corporations are going through have pushed traders to carry out a deeper stage of due diligence earlier than investing. However, now we have seen that there’s nonetheless a possibility to lift funding when you’ve got the correct know-how and a market want for the know-how,” he mentioned.

When it comes to recommendation he would give different startups searching for to lift capital, Toland had two items of knowledge to share. The primary is to construct a sensible marketing strategy that highlights particular valuation inflections for traders — he mentioned that is essential to constructing a trusting relationship. The second will not be assuming that each one traders are equal, as every investor has a unique profile. The extra traders a founder can have interaction with, the extra profitable they are going to be, Toland mentioned.

Picture: iunewind, Getty Photos