BURLINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--InfraReDx, Inc., a medical device company providing intelligent cardiovascular diagnostic imaging technologies, today announced it has raised $24.1 million from the sale of equity to existing InfraReDx shareholders. Proceeds from the financing will be used to expand manufacturing operations and commercial infrastructure to support the growing demand for the LipiScan™ IVUS Coronary Imaging System. The system includes the world’s first and only cardiac catheter to combine intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) and near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy to help cardiologists identify and characterize the plaques known to complicate stenting and suspected to cause most heart attacks. The funds raised will also be used to support ongoing and new clinical trials investigating expanded clinical applications of the LipiScan IVUS system.
“We are very grateful to our existing shareholders for their continued support of the company and for recognizing the tremendous potential of the LipiScan IVUS system to improve cardiac stenting safety and patient care,” said Donald Southard, president and chief executive officer of InfraReDx. “While physician demand for the LipiScan IVUS system continues to accelerate, these additional funds will allow us to significantly expand our commercialization efforts, while also conducting further studies to explore additional clinical uses and benefits of the product. We look forward to building on the success of the company to date and continuing to execute our product launch strategy in the U.S.”
InfraReDx launched the LipiScan IVUS system in September 2010 after receiving U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval. The only FDA-cleared device for the detection of lipid core coronary plaques (LCP), the system is now being utilized in a growing number of cardiac centers across the U.S.
In a single catheter pullback, the LipiScan IVUS provides physicians with a traditional IVUS image that clearly displays key structural parameters of the lesion, including its location, length and degree of stenosis, in addition to confirming proper stent placement. At the same time, the system performs spectroscopic analysis of optical data to produce a Chemogram™ map that indicates the location of lipid core plaques and quantifies their lipid core burden. Integrating and co-registering the Chemogram with IVUS provides immediate and valuable information to interventional cardiologists during the cardiac catheterization procedure.
About InfraReDx, Inc.
InfraReDx, Inc. is a privately funded medical device company improving patient care through the development and commercialization of intelligent imaging technologies to improve the diagnosis and treatment of coronary artery disease. InfraReDx’s LipiScan™ IVUS Coronary Imaging System includes the first and only available catheter to combine both near-infrared spectroscopy (NIR) and intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) technologies to both visualize and characterize the intracoronary lipid core plaques (LCP) demonstrated to complicate stenting and suspected of causing the majority of heart attacks. Founded in 1998, InfraReDx is headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts. For more information, visit www.infraredx.com.