SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Paracor Medical, Inc., a private venture-backed company developing device-based treatments for heart failure, today announced the closing of $44.35 million in its Series D funding. The round was led by new investor Aberdare Ventures, with the participation of Montagu Newhall Associates. All of the current institutional investors participated in the financing, including Delphi Ventures, Pequot Ventures, InterWest Partners, Alta Partners, DeNovo Ventures, Saratoga Ventures, and Palo Alto Investors. The new funds will primarily be used to support the recently initiated PEERLESS-HF pivotal clinical trial of the Company’s HeartNet(TM) device.
In conjunction with the financing, Sami Hamade of Aberdare Ventures will join the Paracor Medical Board of Directors. In commenting on the investment, Mr. Hamade noted that “based on published results from previously conducted safety and feasibility trials, and the FDA approved pivotal trial design and protocol, we believe that the probability of a successful outcome in the PEERLESS-HF trial is high. Completion of the trial and subsequent approval for marketing by the Food and Drug Administration could provide millions of heart failure patients access to a long awaited novel and impactful therapy.”
William G. Mavity, President and CEO of Paracor Medical, commented that “We are extremely gratified by the strong support demonstrated by these investments from both our new and existing investors. Completion of the Series D funding will bring us closer to our goal of providing a device-based therapy to attenuate the effects of heart failure for a significant portion of the millions of patients worldwide who have been diagnosed with this chronic and debilitating disease.”
Paracor Medical, Inc. was formed in 1999 with the goal of developing a family of device-based therapies to attenuate the progression of heart failure for the 5 million U. S. and 22 million global patients who have been diagnosed with the disease. An additional 400,000 to 700,000 heart failure patients are diagnosed each year in the United States, and the mortality rate is reported to approach 50% within five years of diagnosis. The economic burden associated with heart failure is estimated to approach $30 billion per year in the United States.
Paracor’s HeartNet device has been implanted in fifty patients worldwide since early 2004 as part of initial safety and feasibility studies at 15 participating clinical centers. The device is implanted in a minimally invasive surgical procedure averaging just over 70 minutes. Initial indications are that the device has enabled patients to demonstrate substantial improvements in exercise capacity and quality of life measures, key indicators of patient response in heart failure clinical studies. The PEERLESS-HF study, currently underway, is intended to compare the impact of the HeartNet therapy versus an optimally medically managed control group in a randomized trial that is expected to involve up to 30 U. S. clinical sites.
Contact: Paracor Medical, Inc. Bill Mavity, 408-734-6030 President & CEO Morris Chubb, 408-734-6036 VP Finance & CFO
Source: Paracor Medical, Inc.
