VerAvanti Positions for Market Launch with Reg D Filing Raise and Two NIH Grants
New Funding Coupled with Multi-Million Dollar Founder Investment Could Take Company All the Way
REDMOND, Wash., July 18, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Quietly in late May, VerAvanti, a developer of a new class of scientifically-advanced solutions to help physicians find answers to treat strokes and heart attacks that often strike without warning, emerged from stealth mode when it announced a Reg D Filing to raise $5 million. This raise will complement the millions already invested by serial entrepreneur Gerald McMorrow, who founded VerAvanti in 2013 after growing his former startup, Verathon Inc., a maker of diagnostic ultrasound tools, into a multi-national powerhouse and successful acquisition by Roper Industries in 2009. In addition to finalizing its funding efforts, VerAvanti was awarded two back-to-back NIH Research Grants in May and June. All funds will further the company's continued research, product development, and strategic hiring as it readies for a 2018 market launch, pending FDA 510(k) premarket clearance.
VerAvanti emerged when founder and CEO, McMorrow began discussions with University of Washington scientists about potential commercial applications for a series of Scanning Fiber Endoscope (SFE) patents. Once optimal markets for the technology were determined, McMorrow founded VerAvanti and licensed the technology. Since 2013, McMorrow has strategically built his team, which includes former Verathon COO, Russ Garrison as President and COO. Together the former colleagues have worked to commercialize the advanced imaging technology for two underserved segments of the vascular market—strokes and coronary care.
Pending FDA 510(k) premarket clearance, the SFE is being developed as a new class of tool offering interventional cardiologists the potential to reduce sightline gaps that are critical to proactively diagnosing and treating individuals at-risk for cryptogenic (of unknown origin) stroke and cardiovascular events. According to American Heart Association research, 6.8M people 20 and older in the U.S. have had a stroke. With nearly 800,000 strokes annually, stroke is the fifth leading cause of death. Most strokes are ischemic, and for at least one-third of these the root cause or origin is unknown.
VerAvanti founder and CEO Gerald McMorrow explained, "Because of gaps in current technology, many of these strokes are left untreated. We hope to use the SFE to bring physicians inside hidden parts of artery vessels. The laser-based scanning fiber endoscope includes a micro-small catheter and camera with an extreme depth of focus, providing a new way to see, understand and hopefully treat the hidden, underlying causes of stroke and coronary events, with the goal of saving countless patient lives who today do not have these treatment options."
The National Institute of Health (NIH) also see's value in VerAvanti's research. In May VerAvanti was awarded a $300k NIH Research, Phase 1 Grant entitled "4-Channel Multimodal Ultrathin-Flexible SFE for cancer diagnosis and therapy". Then in June the NIH again awarded VerAvanti another $286K NIH Research, Phase 1 Grant. entitled "Optical visualization to efficiently guide coronary intervention of chronic total occlusion".
About VerAvanti
Founded in 2013, privately-held VerAvanti is using advanced science and automation to commercialize the world's first Scanning Fiber Endoscope (SFE), to help physicians close treatment gaps and proactively identify interventions for the 200,000 individuals (U.S.) who suffer ischemic strokes due to an unknown cause1. Protected by more than 30 patents licensed by VerAvanti, the SFE is a micro-imaging catheter equipped with an extreme depth of focus camera that provides physicians a previously unseen surgical view into hidden intravascular anatomy, enabling more proactive diagnosis and treatment of individuals at-risk for stroke and cardiovascular events. Visit VerAvanti to learn more and review scientific papers and SFE images.
Media Inquiries:
Cheryl Isen, Isen and Company
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SOURCE VerAvanti
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