Fannin Partners led the round, which included the conversion of $10 million in interim financing. New and existing family/multi-family office investors partnered with Fannin Partners in the financing. Returning investors, including BlueBird Ventures and an undisclosed strategic investor, also participated.
Houston-based Procyrion plans to use the funds to support the ongoing DRAIN-HF pivotal IDE trial evaluating Aortix. The company designed Aortix for percutaneous mechanical circulatory support (pMCS) in patients with acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) who remain congested despite standard medical therapy (cardiorenal syndrome or CRS). Procyrion enrolled the first patient in the trial in November 2023.
Aortix, a catheter-deployed pump, goes in the descending thoracic aorta. Procyrion designed it to directly unload the heart and improve cardiac performance while increasing perfusion to the kidneys. The company presented positive results from a pilot study of Aortix in March 2023.
“Approximately 25% of the millions of patients admitted to the hospital with ADHF are unable to be successfully treated with standard of care therapies, yet there is a lack of effective treatment options available, leading to very poor outcomes. Aortix therapy is uniquely suited for treating CRS patients and this latest round of investment will enable the company to make significant progress toward commercialization of our technology,” said Dr. Eric S. Fain, President and CEO, Procyrion. “We thank our investors for recognizing the engineering and clinical achievements to date, as well as the potential of Aortix to be a truly groundbreaking advancement to break the vicious CRS cycle and improve the outcomes in these most challenging-to-manage heart failure patients who currently have no proven therapeutic options.”