Coramaze technologies GmbH, a German medical device company, is developing themitramaze® valve repair system – a novel concept for transcatheter mitral valve repair (TMVRep) intended for treatment of inoperable patients suffering from severe functional mitral regurgitation (fMR).
coramaze announced the closing of a EUR 4.5 million (US$ 5.15 million) series A financing round led by Elron Electronic Industries Ltd, a leading Israeli holding company dedicated to building technology companies, primarily in the field of medical devices. Current investors High-Tech Gründerfonds and SeedCapital Dortmund joined this funding round alongside a pool of private investors.
coramaze’s innovative medical device design for the minimally invasive treatment of one of the most common structural heart valve diseases aims to improve the treatment for millions of patients suffering from fMR worldwide. The mitramaze® technology is aimed at fMR patients considered unfit for surgery, and has the potential to expand to a broader patient population currently undergoing open heart surgery. The company will use the proceeds of the round to advance the mitramaze® implant design concept into a first-in-human clinical investigational study in 2016 and a subsequent feasibility trial to support European CE approval.
“coramaze stands out in the highly competitive TMVRep environment with a device design that allows not only a minimally invasive, but truly transfemoral implantation and atraumatic anchoring“ said Laura Figulla, CEO and co-founder of coramaze. “Our novel mitramaze® concept offers fundamental improvements over current concepts and has the potential to overcome present treatment limitations. Based on our promising pre-clinical data, and backed by this new investment, we are now in an excellent position to initiate clinical development, starting in Europe and further expanding to the US” she added.
Ari Bronshtein, CEO of Elron Electronic Industries Ltd., commented: “We are delighted to announce our investment in coramaze’s pioneering implant design as mitramaze® holds the potential to truly improve the standard of care in the field of transcatheter mitral valve repair. We expect that this market will develop into a multi-billion dollar opportunity. coramaze is our first investment in Europe and we are looking forward to supporting the company’s approach with our expertise and strong network.”
Christian Jung, Senior Investment Manager at High-Tech Gründerfonds commented: “mitramaze®, by virtue of its design concept, is uniquely qualified to cope with the challenges arising from the high patient-to-patient variability of the anatomy of the mitral valve and the lack of a rigid annulus wall while preserving the natural leaflets of the valve and restoring their functionality. We believe that these properties confer upon mitramaze® a major edge over competing technologies and are impressed with the rapid progress made by coramaze since our initial investment in 2014.”
The unique features of the mitramaze® valve repair system concept are threefold and reside in its enhanced coaptation design, its exclusive and flexible spacer and a customized delivery catheter system specifically designed for the transfemoral arterial approach, delivery and implantation of the device. Upon release on site in the beating heart, the self-expanding implant design allows for an atraumatic anchoring in the left atrium without the need to include adjacent myocardial tissue structures.
