Irish investors have freed up $3.8 million for a Galway startup developing a new technique aimed at shutting down blood flow to arteries during minimally invasive procedures.
Galway’s Embo Medical said it is working on what it calls "the first true 1-shot" vascular embolization device for use in minimally invasive procedures during the treatment of such conditions as cancer, internal hemorraghing, aneurysm and venous disease.
During embolization, a physician inserts a catheter into an artery and then uses small particles, coils or other material to seal off a target blood vessel. The procedure can take several hours.
Embo said preclinical studies showed its technology was able to reduce blood-vessel treatment time by more than 80% while ensuring rapid and durable occlusion across all blood-vessel sizes.
"The coils can migrate away from the target vessel causing unintended blockages elsewhere in the body," Embo Medical CEO Wayne Allen told the Irish Times.
Allen is the former head of research, development and commercialization for Synthes Spine, now part of Johnson & Johnson‘s (NYSE:JNJ) DePuy Synthes division.
Embo’s investors include AIB Seed Capital Fund, which is managed by Enterprise Equity; Irrus Investments; HBAN’s Medtech Business Angel Syndicate; Western Development Commission; Enterprise Ireland; and the AIB Start-Up Accelerator Fund, which is managed by ACT Venture Capital.
