Parisian startup Cardiawave has raised more than $8 million to boost development of its ultrasound device to treat calcific aortic stenosis.
Nearly $3 million came from the European program Instrument PME, which finances disruptive European technologies developed by potentially high-growth companies. Family-controlled investment groups and the company’s traditional shareholders — Sofimac Innovation, Business Angels des Grandes Ecoles, Paris Business Angels, Angels Santé and Angels’ Bay Invest — put in another $5.3 million.
Cardiawave’s pulsed cavitational ultrasound therapy (PCUT) treatment consists of applying ultrasound through a very high-precision mechanical effect (cavitation) to micro-fracture the calcifications and thus make the flaps of the heart valve flexible again immediately during the procedure, according to the company. An integrated imaging device coupled with the ultrasound treatment procedure makes it possible to monitor the treatment’s progress and its effects in real time, the company said.
Cardiawave was created in October 2014 by French-American entrepreneur Benjamin Bertrand and physicists Mickaël Tanter, Mathieu Pernot and Mathias Fink from the Langevin Institute, a world leader in ultrasound imaging and treatment, as well as cardiologist Emmanuel Messas, department head and laboratory director of Georges Pompidou European Hospital.
The first human clinical study will begin in the spring of 2019 and enable Cardiawave to plan for the CE Mark at the beginning of 2021 and treatment deployment the same year. The company plans to seek an additional $17.5 million in funding in late 2019 and early 2020.
