UPDATED Jan. 5, 2016, with comment from GlySens.
Implantable continuous glucose monitor developer GlySens raised $20 million in a Series D round, led by backers from its Series C round and “significant participation from new investors,” the company said today.
The San Diego-based company is developing an implantable sensor for monitoring glucose, called the Eclipse, that needs calibration no more than 2 times a month. The device wirelessly communicates with an external receiver which provides constant glucose monitoring.
“The clinical performance of our fully implanted ICGM system, now with multiple patients approaching 12 months of in vivo use, was instrumental in our ability to secure incremental funding on terms highly supportive of the company’s long-term vision and viability,” president & CEO William Markle said in prepared remarks. “Our current clinical trial being conducted in San Diego, under an FDA-approved [investigational device exemption], is continuing to emphatically demonstrate the viability of the GlySens Eclipse ICGM system to continuously monitor interstitial glucose in subjects with diabetes for a minimum of 12 months, with essentially zero impact to body image, and with the intended requirement of finger stick calibration only once or twice per month. We are so fortunate to have such sophisticated and passionate investors who share our vision of an uncompromised, unobtrusive CGM solution; we take their endorsement and vote of confidence very seriously.”
“The proceeds from this Series D investment, in combination with the significant remaining balance from our prior Series C round, places us in an enviable position to further expand our clinical trials to support a CE-Marking application, hire additional staff, and complete the build-out of a new modern facility and optimized manufacturing plant,” added co-founder & chief technology officer Joseph Lucisano. “We are making rapid progress on both the optimization of the sensor itself and on its attendant signal processing algorithms, and are pleased also to be nearing completion of our first commercial-version receiver. Plans are additionally in process for pushing our sensor data directly to a smartphone.”
GlySens was looking to bring in another $1 million before the round closed, according to an SEC filing, which showed contributions from 19 different investors.
In August, the FDA approved an extension of the company’s clinical trial of its CGM device, upping its timeline from 6 months to 1 year.