Claret Medical has announced that it has closed on a series C financing of US$14.5m led by Lightstone Ventures, with participation from existing investors Easton Capital, HealthCor Partners, Incept LLC and Sante Ventures. Claret Medical is the developer of the Sentinel cerebral protection system, the first US FDA-cleared cerebral protection device for transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI).
According to a press release, the company will use the proceeds to support market access programmes, research and development for next generation products, and expansion of the commercial organisation to build upon the successful controlled commercial release of Sentinel in the USA
Since the company’s Series B round in 2014, Claret Medical has pursued a structured study programme of the Sentinel device involving three randomised studies and more than 2,300 patients, including its US SENTINEL pivotal trial and a large-scale, real-world trial. It has also gained FDA clearance and commercialised Sentinel in TAVI centres across Europe, selected Asia Pacific countries, and the USA. To date, more than 5,000 patients have benefited from the use of Claret Medical’s cerebral protection technology during their cardiovascular procedures.
Claret Medical CEO Azin Parhizgar, comments: “We appreciate our investors’ continued confidence in the large market opportunity presented by our technology. Our ongoing investment in a broad clinical program has shown that Sentinel is safe, easy to use and highly effective in reducing periprocedural TAVI stroke by 70%. We look forward to continuing to work with leading TAVI centres around the country to integrate protected TAVI using the Sentinel into their programmes to enhance patient safety.”
Sentinel is designed to capture and remove debris that is dislodged ubiquitously during TAVI, regardless of the TAVI system used or a patient’s risk profile, before it can travel to the brain and potentially cause neurological and neurocognitive damage.
