Device maker MAX Endoscopy Inc. and drug developer TheraVasc Inc. have each received $250,000 follow-on investments from JumpStart Ventures, the investment arm of non-profit venture development firm JumpStart Inc.
The new commitments follow initial investments of the same amount that Cleveland-based JumpStart made in the two companies last winter.
Macedonia-based MAX Endoscopy designs and makes a fiber-optic device used in treating hemorrhoids. A burst of infrared light delivered by the device makes the blood in hemorrhoids harden, causing them to shrink. MAX Endoscopy’s device received Food & Drug Administration approval last year.
The company will use the latest round of funding to speed up the commercialization process, expand its management team, and begin evaluating other clinical opportunities, such as Barrett’s Esophagus and watermelon stomach, according to a statement from JumpStart.
Cleveland-based TheraVasc is reformulating an approved drug to treat vascular diseases. The funding from JumpStart will be used to support a Phase 2a clinical trial to determine the effectiveness of the company’s sodium nitrate drug. The study will try to find out whether the drug improves blood flow for sufferers of peripheral arterial disease, a narrowing of the blood vessels in the extremities, usually the legs.
Sodium nitrate already is approved by the FDA as an injectable. TheraVasc is working to reformulate the drug as a capsule. In addition to receiving a commitment of $250,000 from JumpStart in January, TheraVasc received the same amount of investment from Beachwood, Ohio-based Portal Capital LLC, an early stage life sciences investment firm.
