Myra Medical, A Shifamed Portfolio Company, Closes $3M In Seed Financing

CAMPBELL, Calif., Oct. 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Myra Medical, a newly formed Shifamed portfolio company, announced today the closing of its seed financing round, raising a total of $3.16M. Raised exclusively from select Shifamed accredited Angel Investors, the financing will be used to advance Myra Medical's product development and pre-clinical programs. Additionally, Shifamed announced the appointments of Robert Chang to serve as Myra Medical's Chief Executive Officer and Tracy Valorie, seasoned ophthalmology executive, to serve as strategic advisor to the company.

Glaucoma is a leading cause of irreversible blindness, occurring when fluid in the eye is not able to drain properly.¹ As a result, the intraocular pressure (IOP) increases, causing progressive damage to the optic nerve and leading to gradual vision loss. This ophthalmic disorder affects approximately 64 million patients worldwide, driving the global glaucoma therapeutics market currently estimated at $6.3B.² Myra Medical was founded to evolve the surgical device landscape with a novel technology that aims to provide physicians and patients with an effective platform to safely enable maximum intraocular pressure (IOP) reduction while reducing the risk of hypotony, a condition common following current glaucoma surgery when the resulting IOP is too low.

"Despite the efforts of first-generation solutions, an unmet need remains for a device that adequately treats moderate to advanced glaucoma patients in a controlled manner," stated Robert Chang, CEO of Myra Medical. "Myra's innovative platform will elevate the standard of care in this space by being less invasive than current glaucoma approaches used to manage this patient population, enabling improved disease management and reducing the risk of complications common with current treatments."

Robert Chang joins Myra Medical with over 30 years of executive and medical device development experience. Most recently, Mr. Chang was the Co-Founder, President, CEO and Director at MVRx, Inc. Prior to this, Chang served as Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Sadra Medical, a legacy company of Shifamed, acquired by Boston Scientific Corporation. Prior to his time with Sadra, Chang co-founded Ample Medical, serving as their President, CEO and Director. Tracy Valorie advises Myra Medical with over 25 years of experience and most recently serving as the Senior Vice President, General Manager of the U.S. Pharmaceutical and Surgical businesses at Bausch + Lomb. Previously, Ms. Valorie was the Commercial Lead of Ophthalmology at Pfizer, with responsibility for multiple global Ophthalmology brands and commercial development of mid-stage portfolio and long-range strategic planning.

"We are delighted to have Rob lead the company and Tracy strategically advise on key industry insights. Their combined decades of experience make them an ideal team to drive Myra forward at this time," commented Amr Salahieh, Founder of Shifamed and Chairman of Myra Medical. "We are also pleased with the size of and timing to close this initial financing round. It reflects the excitement around the impact Myra's technology will have on the treatment of moderate to advanced glaucoma."

About Myra Medical, Inc.

Myra Medical, a privately held portfolio company of Shifamed LLC, is evolving the surgical device landscape with a novel technology that aims to provide physicians and patients with an effective platform to safely enable maximum intraocular pressure (IOP) reduction while reducing the risk of hypotony, improving treatment for moderate to advanced glaucoma patients.

About Shifamed, LLC.

Founded by serial entrepreneur Amr Salahieh, Shifamed LLC is a highly specialized medical innovation hub focused on developing solutions that accelerate time to market, reduce risk, increase impact, and forge a path toward a world where patients are able to lead longer, healthier lives. To learn more about Shifamed, please visit www.shifamed.com.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Katie Arnold
SPRIG Consulting LLC
+1 (408) 805-0520
[email protected]

¹ Glaucoma Research Foundation
² https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/industry-reports/glaucoma-therapeutics-market-100312

SOURCE Myra Medical, Inc.

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