LAUSANNE, Switzerland, April 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Endoart SA, a leader in the development of telemetrically driven medical devices, announced today that it has raised $10.5 million (CHF 13.5 million) in a series C financing. This investment will allow the company to launch its lead product, EasyBand(R), a remotely adjustable gastric band for severe obesity, in Europe and initiate clinical development in the US. The financing was co-led by Venture Incubator AG (Switzerland) and Renaissance PME managed by Vinci Capital (Switzerland), with the participation of EMBL Ventures (Germany) and Genevest (Switzerland). A number of existing investors, such as Sofinnova Partners (France), also participated in the round. Dr. Diego Braguglia from Venture Incubator will join the Board of Endoart.
The EasyBand(R) device, which was approved for marketing in Europe in 2005, will be made available through specialized obesity centers in 2006. The clinical development commencing this year in the US is anticipated to take several years before the product could be made available to US patients.
"Endoart's technology offers significantly higher comfort to patients. Remote adjustment allows precise and painless control of the device, which is key for patient compliance and success of treatment. Severe obesity is a growing global concern and Endoart is excited to offer an innovative device to surgeons that helps patients realize their weight-loss goals and achieve healthier quality of life," said Philippe Dro, Chairman and CEO of Endoart. "The interest of the venture community largely exceeded our original financing plan and we may consider extending this round for overseas investors."
"We believe the innovative products developed by Endoart can play a major role in the fast growing obesity market," said Diego Braguglia, General Partner at Venture Incubator. "We have been very impressed with the drive and commitment exhibited by Endoart in taking its unique technology to commercialization and so we are very pleased to participate in this exciting opportunity."
About FloWatch(R) technology
Endoart's innovative FloWatch(R) technology allows precise control of flow through organs and vessels via activation and control of a battery-free, implanted device that can be applied in a number of indications. One such proven pathology is infant pulmonary hypertension. Endoart has been selling the FloWatch-PAB device in Europe since 2003 for newborn babies with severe heart malformations.
About Obesity
Severe obesity is becoming a major issue in Western countries. The number of patients is estimated to be 5 million in Europe and more than 10 million in the US, and is growing fast. Severe obesity decreases life expectancy and also increases the risk of suffering from type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol. If diet control and exercise are not effective, the only available options for these patients to improve their life are either to undergo serious and potentially risky gastric bypass surgery or to opt for a less invasive procedure like gastric banding. With the banding procedure, an adjustable band is placed around the stomach to increase the feeling of satiety and reduce food intake. Both gastric bypass and gastric banding lead to similar results in terms of excess weight loss.
About Endoart
Endoart is a leader in providing quality of life-enhancing products for serious and debilitating medical conditions, such as obesity. The Company has developed and marketed the only implantable telemetrically controlled devices to provide flow control through the organs or vessels of the body. These battery-free devices are powered, programmed and controlled remotely. Endoart's initial commercial focus is the EasyBand Telemetrically Adjustable Gastric Band, which offers patients a pain-free option to enhance follow-up and compliance within a medically supervised weight loss program. Endoart already markets the clinically proven Flowatch-PAB in Europe for pulmonary artery banding in newborn infants. The company was founded in 1998 and is based in Lausanne, Switzerland. For more information visit www.endoart.com.
About Venture Incubator AG
Venture Incubator AG (VI) is a Swiss venture capital firm that supports university spin-off's as well as other promising start-up companies with capital, coaching, consulting and networks. VI invests "Smart Money" to develop promising technology-based ideas for products and services into successful businesses.
VI was founded in 2001 and manages an investment fund of CHF 101 million. VI investors are blue-chip Swiss enterprises from industry and finance. In addition, VI has strategic partnerships with McKinsey & Company and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETHZ). For further information visit www.vipartners.ch.
About Renaissance PME and Vinci Capital SA
Renaissance PME is a Swiss-based foundation dedicated to Swiss pension funds to provide them with a fiscally-optimized and regulated vehicle for direct private-equity investments. Vinci Capital is an independent Swiss private-equity firm with an exclusive mandate to manage the funds of Renaissance PME. For further information visit www.renaissance-pme.ch and www.vincicapital.ch.
Endoart SACONTACT: Philippe Dro, Endoart SA, Tel: +41-(0)21-693 84-78,info@endoart.com; Mike Sinclair, Halsin Partners, Tel: +44-(0)870-747-0880,msinclair@halsin.com; Diego Braguglia, VI Partners, Tel: +41-41-729-0000,diego@vipartners.ch
