CorAssist Cardiovascular Ltd. raised $5.25 million in a private financing round led by Aurum Ventures MKI Ltd., joined by previous investors Ofer Hi Tech Ltd., Evergreen Venture Partners, Yozma Venture Capital, and Argonaut Ventures. The company has raised $10.75 million since it was founded in 2002, including the present round.
CorAssist was founded Dr. Yair Feld, Dr. Shay Dubi, and Dr. Yotam Reisner, at Naiot Venture Accelerator. The company develops novel therapeutic devices for Diastolic Heart Failure (DHF), a condition in which the heart becomes stiff and/or fails to relax, and fills inadequately.
The company has developed spring-like devices that harness elastic energy produced by the left ventricle during systole (contraction) and release the energy during diastole (relaxation). The released energy assists the left ventricle to overcome its stiffness by springing back an appropriate amount to improve relaxation and blood filling.
CorAssist CEO Amir Loshakove notes, “We have made significant progress with the ImCardia, as well as with our minimally invasive devices, the ImCardia-MIS and the CORrolla." He added that the company had conducted a clinical trial for ImCardia on twelve patients, and that it needed to recruit eight more patients in order to obtain EU CE Mark certification, which he predicted would be forthcoming within a year.
CorAssist will have to undergo the US Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) lengthy premarket approval process (PMA) to market the product in the US.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 18, 2009
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