Respiratory-assistance company ALung Technologies Inc. added $2.8 million to what it hopes will be a $10 million round of investment funding, according to a regulatory filing.
The latest funding round, an equity offering, brings to $6.1 million the amount that ALung has raised since February. The funding includes contributions from 22 investors, according to the filing.
The Pittsburgh-based company is developing a respiratory-assistance system it calls the Hemolung, which delivers oxygen directly into the blood using a catheter into the femoral or jugular vein. The technology is intended for patients with acute respiratory failure and could allow such patients to avoid having to breathe through a tube or ventilator.
ALung has no revenues, according to the regulatory filing.
In January, the company was looking to begin human trials of its device in Germany and India, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PDF). ALung’s goal is to have the 4-foot-tall, 150-pound Hemolung on the market in Europe next year and in the U.S. in 2012.
One of the company’s investors is Respironics founder Gerald McGinnis, who in 2008 sold his company to Dutch firm Royal Philips Electronics (NYSE:PHG) for $5.1 billion. Respironics makes masks and ventilators for the treatments of breathing disorders, including obstructive sleep apnea.
McGinnis also sits on ALung’s board and sponsors an entrepreneurship competition at Carnegie Mellon University that provides capital to startups.
ALung COO Nick Kuhn didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment.
