Press Release.
20th January 2012, London: – Advent Life Sciences announced it has invested $2.2 million in Acutus Medical, a medical technology company based in San Diego and Zurich, as part of a Series A of $5.4 million which includes previously announced participation by Index Ventures and the company founders. Acutus is developing an electrophysiological mapping system to optimize the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias and will use the initial funding to develop prototypes of its novel system.
Acutus Medical, founded in 2011, is developing technology to allow significantly improved mapping of the cardiac space. This will enable instantaneous and precise visualization of areas of the heart to be ablated in patients with cardiac arrhythmias such as atrial fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia. The advanced technology is being developed in the US and Europe. The Acutus system is being designed to provide unprecedented accuracy for the real-time guidance necessary to determine the location for ablating sources of arrhythmias.
Shahzad Malik, general partner at Advent Life Sciences and new Board member at Acutus Medical, said,
“We are delighted to invest in Acutus Medical and this investment underlines our commitment to investing in first-in-class and best-in-class life sciences opportunities. The treatment of atrial fibrillation using medical devices is an area with substantial growth potential and we believe Acutus has the ability to significantly expand the market while improving outcomes based on more accurate electrophysiological mapping. ”
With this investment, Acutus Medical also announced it has recruited Graydon Beatty as its Chief Technology Officer. Graydon was previously an inventor of the EnSite Technology and founder of Endocardial Solutions, Inc., incorporated in 1992, which produced integrated advanced mapping and navigation systems for the location and improved treatment of cardiac arrhythmias.
Endocardial Solutions was acquired by St. Jude Medical, Inc. in 2005 where Graydon continued to contribute to product development. Acutus President, Randy Werneth said, “With Graydon, we add a world-leading expert to our team of highly experienced and successful developers of advanced cardiac mapping and imaging systems. With his exceptional previous achievements and perfect fit with our team and our tasks we believe we are poised to produce a breakthrough in cardiac mapping systems.”
About Acutus Medical:
Acutus Medical is a medical technology company committed to developing an innovative breakthrough platform technology of safe, cost effective and clinically advanced tools for the minimally invasive diagnostic mapping of complex cardiac arrhythmias such as atrial fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia. The Company’s technology is being developed in the US and Europe and is expected to achieve CE marking within two years. The company is located in San Diego, California and Zurich, Switzerland and is privately funded with lead investors, Index Ventures and Advent Ventures.
About AdventLife Sciences:
Advent Life Sciences is the dedicated Life Sciences Fund at Advent Venture Partners, one of Europe’s best established growth and venture capital firms. Advent Life Sciences invests predominantly in early-stage and growth equity life sciences companies in the UK, Europe and the US. It will back companies that have a first- or best-in-class approach in a range of sectors within the life sciences, including new drug discovery, enabling technologies, med-tech and diagnostics.
The Advent Life Sciences team is a leader in European life sciences venture capital. Its investments include: PowderMed, a therapeutic DNA vaccine company sold to Pfizer; Thiakis, an obesity treatment company acquired by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals; Respivert, a drug discovery company focused on respiratory diseases that was acquired by Johnson & Johnson; EUSA Pharma, a rapidly growing transatlantic speciality pharmaceutical company focused on late-stage oncology, pain control and critical care products; and, Algeta (OSE: ALGETA), an oncology company developing treatments for bone metastases and disseminated tumours.
For more information contact:
Acutus Medical
Randy Werneth, CEO
Email: randy.werneth@acutusmedical.com
Advent Venture Partners (London)
Josephine Defty
Ph: +44 (0) 20 7932 2116
Email: Josephine@adventventures.com
