SAN LEANDRO, Calif., May 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Mercator MedSystems, Inc., today announced it raised $2.25 million in a follow-on financing to advance clinical development of its MicroSyringe Infusion Catheter(TM) system, a new approach to delivering therapeutics that may revolutionize the treatment of a variety of diseases. Led by Palo Alto Investors, the funding also came from existing investors that included Crocker Capital. Mercator also named Charles Crocker, of Crocker Capital, and A. Joon Yun, M.D., a partner at Palo Alto Investors, to its board of directors.
According to Thomas M. Loarie, Mercator’s chairman and CEO, the funds will be used to expedite the MicroSyringe’s development aimed initially at treating restenosis, as well as to expand the product line to accommodate a range of blood vessel diameters. The financing also will be used to increase the number and scope of agreements with therapeutic companies seeking a safe method for delivering treatment directly to a disease site using the company’s proprietary technology.
The MicroSyringe Infusion Catheter
The MicroSyringe Infusion Catheter is a catheter-guided infusion system that incorporates traditional endovascular catheter technology with a balloon- deployable microneedle to deliver therapeutic agents anywhere in the body that can be accessed by a blood vessel. The catheter-guided system is first threaded through a blood vessel. Upon reaching the desired site, a tiny balloon is inflated, securing it against the vessel wall. The balloon is then deployed to slide the microneedle through the vessel wall where it delivers its therapeutic payload. Cleared for marketing by the U. S. Food and Drug Administration, the device is designed to directly deliver drugs, stem cells, and genes to increase the therapeutic efficacy, yield, and safety of a variety of treatments.
Mr. Crocker said, “After years of unsuccessful approaches by others to safely and reliably deliver a drug into the vessel wall, Mercator’s approach to treating vascular disease is now being recognized for its clinical importance. Crocker Capital looks forward to continuing its active role in helping the company address unmet medical needs, and to realize the technology’s full commercial potential.”
MicroSyringe Infusion: Solving the Problem of Restenosis
Mercator’s initial product focus is preventing and treating neointimal hyperplasia, the re-narrowing of blood vessels more commonly known as restenosis that can follow medical procedures such as angioplasty, stenting and atherectomy to unclog blocked vessels. Restenosis following angioplasty of dialysis access grafts and peripheral arteries are the first therapeutic applications the company will pursue with its MicroSyringe Infusion Catheter system.
Representing a multibillion-dollar market, effective treatment of restenosis remains a large unresolved need. The blood vessel’s outer tissue layer known as the adventitia is the location of the problem: Smooth muscle cells proliferate and migrate inward in response to local trauma and inflammation, ultimately causing a re-narrowing of the blood vessel interior. Previous attempts at drug delivery to the adventitia have been unreliable and traumatic. Although the drug-eluting stent has been successful in treating restenosis in coronary artery disease, it has been largely unsuccessful in treating diseased blood vessels of the legs (peripheral artery disease, or PAD), and the blood vessel narrowing that occurs at dialysis access sites in patients with chronic kidney disease.
“Mercator is at the forefront of a trend in medical thinking that recognizes the area surrounding the blood vessel wall as the primary target to prevent restenosis,” said Dr. Yun. “Its MicroSyringe has the potential to revolutionize the treatment of arteriosclerosis by delivering therapy directly to the adventitia of the injured blood vessel where the inflammatory response occurs that leads to vessel closure.”
Mercator is investigating the use of its MicroSyringe to deliver certain medications that have been shown to reduce the inflammatory tissue buildup after vascular procedures. In preclinical research, direct delivery into the vessel wall has been shown to reduce restenosis and substantially reduce the drug washed away by the bloodstream.
Dr. Yun is a partner at Palo Alto Investors, an investment firm that manages more than $1 billion in assets. Focused on investments in the healthcare sector, he has been a practicing physician and serves on the clinical faculty at Stanford University Medical Center’s Department of Radiology since 1995. Dr. Yun joined Palo Alto Investors in 1998.
Charles Crocker is a principal of Crocker Capital, a private venture capital firm active in the life sciences industry. He was chairman, and founder of BEI Medical Systems, a public medical device company that was sold to Boston Scientific. He serves on the boards of Franklin Resources, Inc. and Teledyne Technologies, Inc.
Mercator Medsystems, Inc.
Mercator MedSystems, Inc., based in San Leandro, Calif., is a privately held medical technology company focused on commercializing catheter-guided, microfluid infusion systems for site-specific delivery of therapeutic agents for applications to vascular disease, oncology and regenerative medicine.
Mercator MedSystems, Inc.
CONTACT: Thomas M. Loarie, Chairman, CEO, of Mercator MedSystems, Inc.,+1-510-614-4550; or Charles Versaggi, Ph.D., of VersaggiBiocommunications(R), +1-415-806-6039, or cv@versaggibio.com, for MercatorMedSystems, Inc.
