Rehovot-based Pi-Cardia has developed non-implant based solutions for treating heart valve calcification.
Israeli non-invasive valve treatment company Pi-Cardia Ltd. announced it has closed a $27 million financing round. The round is led by European life sciences venture capital firm Sofinnova Partners, with the participation of Pi-Cardia chairman Prof. Jacques Séguin and previous investors.
Rehovot-based Pi-Cardia has developed non-implant based solutions for treating heart valve calcification. The company's Leaflex catheter performs mechanical scoring of valve calcification, restoring leaflets' mobility and improving valve hemodynamics.
Pi-Cardia founder and CEO Erez Golan said, "Now, as we follow with admiration our fellow physicians and healthcare teams, working day and night to save lives in this Covid19 crisis, we are ever more committed to driving healthcare innovation forward. With our very promising early results, we are now ready to move to the next stage and establish the long-term safety and efficacy of Leaflex as a standalone treatment for patients with aortic stenosis. We have an ambitious plan ahead of us, and we are dedicated to making Pi-Cardia's technology the next revolution in the treatment of structural heart disease."
Sofinnova Partners partner Anne Osdoit said,. "The aortic valve market is expected to reach $9 billion over the next few years, and there is an ever-growing number of patients for whom physicians would prefer to avoid replacing the valve if they had a safe and effective way to defer disease progression. We were fortunate to be the cornerstone investor of CoreValve almost two decades ago as Prof. Séguin was spearheading the TAVR revolution, and we see the same opportunity here with Pi-Cardia, which is bringing a unique approach that may provide many patients with an alternative to valve replacement."