About 2 million Americans suffer from degenerative heart disease, but only 50,000 of them receive life-saving mitral valve surgery. This is primarily because the most common treatment, an open-heart procedure can last between three and six hours and is extremely complex and high risk.
Harpoon Medical Inc., www.harpoonmedical.com a development stage medical device company located in Maryland is in the process of commercializing a minimally invasive image-guided surgical tool to enable doctors to perform life-saving mitral valve surgery.
Harpoon Medical’s new device could reduce the procedure to just 60 minutes. When using the device, a patient’s chest remains closed except for a small incision between the ribs with the heart continuing to beat during mitral valve surgery. The device will cut recovery time from weeks to days and reduce risk factors significantly.
The company recently announced that the company has successfully raised $3.2 million of new capital to advance the technology into the clinic and expand the company’s research and development efforts.
Harpoon Medical received the financing to fund the initial clinical evaluation of the company’s minimally invasive mitral valve repair device. The company, a University of Maryland School of Medicine spin-out received funding from various sources to include the Maryland Venture Fund www.business.maryland.gov/mvf, Epidarex Capital www.epidarex.com, Abell Foundation www.abell.org, along with medical device executives, doctors, and successful business executives in the Maryland area.
According to Harpoon Medical CEO Bill Niland, “The funding will help bring this product one step closer to patients in need. There is still a lot of work that needs to be done to secure regulatory approval and to transform Harpoon Medical into a commercially viable business, but we would not be where we are today without early support from organizations like BioMaryland and TEDCO.”
BioMaryland within the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development www.business.maryland.gov helps connect clients with potential capital sources, academics, and federal researchers. TEDCO helps start-ups with knowledge and resources to launch a business.