Dive Brief:
- Kardium, the developer of a pulsed field ablation and mapping system to treat atrial fibrillation (AFib), said Tuesday it has raised $104 million in a new financing round to help the company prepare for commercial launch.
- The funds will be used to complete Kardium’s Pulsar clinical study needed to obtain regulatory approvals for its Globe mapping and ablation system. The company also plans to expand its manufacturing team and capacity and build a clinical support and commercial team.
- Existing investors Fidelity Management and Research and T. Rowe Price and new investor Durable Capital Partners supported the private financing round, the Vancouver, Canada-based company said.
Dive Insight:
Medical device makers are bringing to market new ablation technologies to treat AFib, an increasingly prevalent heart rhythm disorder that affects as many as 59 million people worldwide. The chaotic and often rapid heartbeat can cause blood to pool and clot, raising the risk for stroke or heart failure.
Medtronic and Boston Scientific recently launched highly anticipated systems in the U.S. that employ a new procedure called pulsed field ablation (PFA) to target the abnormal electrical signals that can lead to AFib. Johnson & Johnson and Abbott are also developing PFA devices for the U.S. market.
Kardium is vying for a position in the market with its Globe system that encompasses a 122-electrode catheter and software to enable rapid pulmonary vein isolation and high-definition mapping of the heart. The device delivers pulsed electric field energy to ablate tissue to treat AFib.
The privately held company, founded in 2007, presented clinical data at the Heart Rhythm Society meeting last month showing 84.2% of patients with paroxysmal AFib and 80% with persistent AFib who were treated with the Globe device were free from atrial arrhythmia at one year.
Kardium previously raised $115 million in 2021 in a financing round led by Fidelity, with participation from accounts advised by T. Rowe Price.
“We are very excited to have the continued support of existing investors, and welcome Durable Capital Partners to this round,” Kardium CEO Kevin Chaplin said in a statement.