Acute decompensated HF treatment device dev WhiteSwell raises $30m in Series B

Early stage device developer WhiteSwell said this week it closed a $30 million Series B round of financing to help support continued development and a pivotal study of the company’s technology intended to treat acute decompensated heart failure.

The round was led by RA Capital Management and an InCube Ventures syndicate and joined by other investors, the Galway, Ireland-based company said.

“WhiteSwell’s mission is aligned with our goal of helping to advance more cost-effective and impactful healthcare outcomes. We are excited about the game-changing potential of WhiteSwell’s technology to benefit patients with ADHF and reduce costs,” RA Capital managing director Dr. Andrew Levin said in a press release.

“We’re looking forward to working with WhiteSwell’s experienced leadership team to deliver a compelling new therapy for ADHF, and we see the potential for it to become a blockbuster medtech product. The WhiteSwell approach is disruptive therapy in an area that has experienced relatively little innovation in the past few decades,” InCube Ventures co-founder & managing director Andrew Farquharson said in a prepared statement.

In addition to the funding, WhiteSwell said that former Neuravi CEO and CFO Eamon Brady and Seán Mac Réamoinn have taken up the same roles with WhiteSwell, joining founder Yaacov Nitzan who is acting as chief technology officer.

“WhiteSwell was founded on insights that arose from our team’s research on the complex fluid dynamics of heart failure patients, leading to the company’s innovative leap in treatment strategy. This financing is an important milestone that will enable us to tackle an enormous clinical problem that affects millions of families,” CEO Brady said in a prepared release.

WhiteSwell said it is developing a technology platform focused on removing excess fluid in the interstitial system to treat acute decompensated heart failure. The system is intended to enhance the natural fluid removal process of the lymphatic system, the company said, as there is currently no effective treatment designed to directly remove excess fluid from the lung and other interstitial tissues.

“I am excited about the potential for WhiteSwell’s therapy to accomplish complete decongestion with preservation of renal function, which is considered the holy grail of ADHF treatment. I was immediately intrigued by WhiteSwell’s ingenuity in targeting the lymphatic system, which plays a major role in fluid management, moving interstitial fluid into the vascular system,” Dr. William Abraham of Ohio State University said in prepared remarks.