BURLINGTON, Mass. – October 12, 2010 – InfraReDx, Inc., a medical device company developing intelligent cardiovascular diagnostic imaging technologies, today announced the completion of a $21 million equity financing. This round of investment attracted new institutions as well as existing investors, including Sanderling Ventures. Funds from the financing are being used to support the full commercial launch of the LipiScan™ IVUS Coronary Imaging System, the world’s first and only intravascular imaging system that combines and co-registers grayscale intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) with InfraReDx’s proprietary near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy lipid core plaque (LCP) detection technology.
“We are pleased to provide this novel diagnostic tool for the care of coronary patients. Our existing investors have been very supportive of the effort to develop LipiScan IVUS and the unique capabilities of the system have been instrumental in attracting the support of new investors, as well,” said James E. Muller, M.D., founder and chief executive officer of InfraReDx. “The LipiScan IVUS system will enable interventional cardiologists to accurately and rapidly identify the lipid core plaques that complicate stenting and are believed to be the major cause of heart attacks. Our full commercial launch will bring this important and eagerly awaited interventional imaging technology to leading catheterization labs in the U.S. this year. It will be available in Europe in 2011.”
The LipiScan IVUS system employs proprietary optical imaging technology to overcome the challenges of heart motion, blood interference, and vascular access to perform NIR spectroscopic analysis of the vessel and produce a chemical map of lipid-core plaque called a Chemogram™. The system provides physicians with a traditional IVUS image that shows plaque location, degree of stenosis and degree of stent expansion. At the same time optical data are recorded that permit identification, and co-localization of lipid core plaques. This innovative multi-modality analysis is accomplished directly in the catheterization laboratory during the coronary intervention via a single catheter pullback procedure. The data are immediately available to the physician to help guide the stenting procedure.
“As a long-term investor in InfraReDx, we are pleased with the Company’s progress and are committed to supporting its successful commercial launch of the LipiScan IVUS system,” said Robert McNeil, Ph.D., managing director of Sanderling Ventures and co-chairman of the InfraReDx board of directors. “Today, there is a critical need for better cardiac imaging technologies to accurately identify lipid core plaques in order to improve stenting procedural outcomes and, ultimately, to reduce the incidence of heart attacks and other coronary events. With this launch of the LipiScan IVUS system, InfraReDx is making available to cardiologists throughout the U.S. a significant and proven advance in the field of intravascular imaging. We believe that InfraReDx is very well positioned to capture key market share in the intravascular imaging market.”
About InfraReDx, Inc.
InfraReDx, Inc. is a privately funded medical device company improving patient care through the development and commercialization of intelligent imaging technologies to improve the diagnosis and treatment of coronary artery disease. InfraReDx’s LipiScan™ IVUS Coronary Imaging System is the first and only available catheter to combine both near-infrared spectroscopy (NIR) and intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) technologies to both visualize and characterize the intracoronary lipid core plaques (LCP) suspected of causing the majority of heart attacks. Founded in 1998, InfraReDx is headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts. For more information, visit www.infraredx.com.
