Kalamazoo-based Ablative Solutions Inc. has a lot of reasons to celebrate and beyond the $77 million of them recently raised, the company can also enjoy its new record of largest known venture capital deal ever done in Michigan.
Gilde Healthcare, a Netherlands-based company with offices in Boston, led the series D financing. BioStar Ventures, Michigan Accelerator Fund and Novus Biotechnology Fund also participated in the round along with other individual investors to raise the full amount. The capital will assist the company with completing late-stage clinical trials in both the U.S. and Europe to prove the effectiveness of their treatment.
“We have been supported the past few years by an amazing team of clinicians who, along with our very hard-working team, are committed to making this treatment available to patients,” said Dr. Tim Fischell, CEO and chief medical officer at Ablative Solutions. “We are excited to have the support of this thoughtful and high-powered group of investors, which will allow the company to complete the studies required to seek regulatory approvals in Europe and in the United States.”
Ablative Solutions pioneered a catheter device to treat unmanageable hypertension by deactivating nerves in renal arteries. Named the Peregrine Systems Kit, it targets nerves that regulate the body’s blood pressure. Via a minimally-invasive procedure, the system delivers alcohol in small doses next to the renal artery to block overactive signaling of the sympathetic nerves.
Like their partnering investors, BioStar Ventures has high hopes for the business: “[We focus] on transformational health care investments and we believe Ablative Solutions fits that model perfectly. We are enthusiastic about the company’s innovative approach to treating high blood pressure, a serious condition that impacts more than one billion people worldwide,” Dr. Michael Fulton, a senior managing director of the venture capital company, stated. “Ablative Solutions’ patented technology enables a streamlined procedure that has the potential to become an important adjunctive therapy to improve difficult-to-control blood pressure.”
Founded in 2011 by Tim Fischell, MD, FACC, and David Fischell, PhD, Ablative Solutions focuses on creating cutting-edge treatments for the overactive sympathetic nervous system. Tim Fischell is a practicing interventional cardiologist and is a Professor of Medicine at Michigan State University. He has co-founded several biomedical start-ups and has invented or co-invented over 70 medical devices that are now patented.
