REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Avinger, Inc. producer of therapeutic devices incorporating intravascular imaging and pioneer of the lumivascular approach to treating vascular disease, announced today the closing of a significant funding round. Both new as well as existing investors participated in the financing.
“We are very pleased with the outcome of this recent capital raise, to support what we anticipate to be a very successful clinical trial of Pantheris, the first-ever peripheral atherectomy catheter that also incorporates intravascular imaging technology using Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT),” said Kenneth Novack, Chairman of Avinger’s Board of Directors. “We are increasingly confident that Avinger’s Lumivascular Platform is well positioned to radically change the treatment of vascular disease.”
“This funding represents an additional important milestone for Avinger, and brings us another step closer to a life-long dream of mine to provide practitioners with the first-ever image-guided atherectomy device, helping the millions of patients suffering from PAD, ” said Dr. John B. Simpson, CEO and Founder of Avinger.
In conjunction with the financing Avinger has added three individuals to its Board of Directors. They are: Mr. James Muzzy, co-founder of PIMCO, Mr. John Delfino, President of Concorde Capital (a private investment management firm), and Mr. Donald A. Lucas, founder of Lucas Venture Group. The combined strategic management experience of Mr. Muzzy, Mr. Delfino and Mr. Lucas will provide immediate and impactful additional expertise to the already robust Avinger Board.
Avinger’s global product portfolio has helped physicians treat more than 15,000 patients suffering from PAD. Often dismissed as normal signs of aging, symptoms of PAD include painful cramping, numbness, or discoloration in the legs or feet. Hospitalization costs of PAD alone are estimated to exceed $21 billion annually, largely due to late detection and patients experiencing a decreased quality of life from invasive bypass surgery or amputation. To learn more about PAD, visit http://avinger.com/patients.
Founded in 2007 by renowned cardiologist and medical device entrepreneur Dr. John B. Simpson, Avinger seeks to radically change the treatment of vascular disease through the development of new technology and a new approach called lumivascular (lumi = light, vascular = artery). Lumivascular procedures use an interventional catheter system that incorporates light-based, radiation-free, intravascular imaging technology within the actual therapeutic device. This provides physicians with live, real-time, video-rate images of the inside of an artery during treatment, offering a variety of benefits for patients, physicians and hospitals. Ocelot, the first line of devices using lumivascular technology, has been commercially available since late 2012. This system is used to open totally occluded arteries in the legs. Avinger’s lumivascular atherectomy system, Pantheris, has received CE Mark approval to remove plaque from arteries affected by PAD, and expects to begin enrollment in the near future in its VISION trial in the U.S.
