The ChordArt transcatheter mitral valve leaflet chord replacement system on X-ray, showing the anchoring sections of the artificial chord.
Aug. 1, 2017 — CoreMedic, a start-up developing the ChordArt trancatheter mitral valve repair system, has received investment from the German investment firm SHS Gesellschaft für Beteiligungsmanagement. SHS said it is investing from its fourth fund generation to finance CoreMedic’s further growth and the clinical application of its innovative products.
Mitral heart valve regurgitation (MR) is one of the most common reasons for cardiac failure. The current gold standard therapy is surgical repair by open heart surgery at the arrested heart. CoreMedic is developing ChordArt, a novel heart valve repair system that is less invasive and easy to use.
The goal of CoreMedic’s novel medical device is to improve the treatment for patients with mitral heart valve regurgitation. With its minimally invasive approach, ChordArt allows the treatment of patients that are currently excluded from the therapy due to the invasiveness of today’s gold standard, the surgical repair.
CoreMedic will use the raised capital to further develop its ChordArt technologies. A first in human clinical use will be advanced for 2018 as well as the initiation of a clinical trial that will support the European CE mark approval of the product.
“Our novel ChordArt repair concept offers tremendous advantages compared to the currently applied open heart surgery at arrested heart. Due to the significantly reduced invasiveness, the ChordArt approach has not only the potential to allow treatment of currently untreatable patients. It can also reduce the trauma of patients that undergo treatment with today’s gold standard substantially”, said Thomas Bauer, CEO of CoreMedic. “The implant to repair the malfunction of the mitral valve has a minimal footprint and is truly respecting the natural anatomy of the heart. Therefore it is not ‘burning any bridges’ for follow-up treatments that might be required later and is leaving the physician and the patients options that no other device is offering right now.”
SHS Managing Partner Hubertus Leonhardt said the pre-clinical studies have shown that ChordArt incorporates the potential to have an enormous impact on the treatment of structural heart diseases. “We are looking forward to supporting CoreMedic on their path to demonstrate the superiority of the ChordArt system in clinical application and to further develop this novel device,” he said. “We can provide CoreMedic both capital and our industry expertise with an extensive network and over 20 years of experience in the medical technology and life-science sector.”
With a total volume of 125 million euro, the fourth SHS fund is focusing on expansion financing, changes in shareholder structures and successor situations. The Tuebingen based investor is planning further acquisitions and investments in the fast-growing medical technology and life-science industries in Germany, Austria and Switzerland in the months ahead.
CoreMedic was founded in 2012 in Bern, Switzerland and is a privately help medical device company with locations in Biel, Switzerland and Tuebingen, Germany.
For more information: visit www.coremedic.ch