Myoscience said it landed $8.4 million of a hoped-for $11.5 million for a device that applies extreme cold to the skin as a way to temporarily treat pain and smooth wrinkles.
Founded in 2005, Myoscience had previously disclosed $97 million in funding, with current investors including De Novo Ventures, Accuitive Medical Ventures, Medicis, NMP, Saratoga Ventures and Valiance.
De Novo Ventures cofounder Rich Ferrari is acting as interim CEO of Myoscience, having replaced former CEO Clint Carnell, who joined Myoscience in 2011 and who was formerly a sales executive with Bausch & Lomb. Carnell left quietly in August and has since been consulting for Covidien (NYSE:COV).
Myoscience’s Iovera device has been approved by the FDA as a way to block pain, in many cases over a period of 2 to 3 months; and in Europe and Canada for temporary reduction of forehead wrinkles in a procedure dubbed "Frotox."
As described on the Myoscience website and in FDA documents, Iovera’s "focused cold therapy" delivers liquid nitrous oxide to a targeted site, where it destroys the axon that carries nerve signals but not the endoneurium tube that envelops those axons.
The effect on the nerve, called Wallerian degeneration, is temporary; as new axons are generated within the endoneurium tube at a rate of one or two millimeters a day, a patient gains relief from pain during that period until those axons reconnect with the sensory system.
In May, Red Herring included Myoscience on a list of the top 100 most promising private companies in North America.