MEMPHIS, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Entac Medical Inc. announced today that it has surpassed initial funding objectives for its Series A funding round. The round is led by Innova Memphis, a Memphis, TN-based venture capital firm. Co-investors include Angel Syndicates Central, an angel syndicate located in Huntsville, AL and the Angel Round Table of Johnson City, TN. The round remains open until January 31, 2016.
The funding is to complete development of PrevisEA, Entac’s noninvasive, patented technology which detects a biological signal that is highly correlated with the development of gastrointestinal impairment (GII); primarily postoperative ileus, an acute paralysis of the gastrointestinal tract causing nausea and vomiting, abdominal distention and pain. PrevisEA has demonstrated high accuracy in the risk stratification of patients with 95% specificity and 83% sensitivity in the clinical setting.
With onset occurring 2-6 days after surgery, GII is a common condition in many types of surgery, especially in colorectal surgery where approximately 25% of 2 million patients are affected annually in the US alone. The inability to predict patients at risk often unnecessarily increases length of hospital stay by 4-6 days and causes readmission rates in excess of 20%, making it one of the most prevalent conditions for readmissions of surgical patients. The financial impact of over-utilization of hospital resources is estimated to be $10-$15 billion per year in the US.
Jan Bouten, partner of Innova Memphis commented, “Innova is delighted to partner with Entac to expeditiously bring PrevisEA and related devices to market based on this novel platform technology. There are currently no devices or tests available to predict a patient’s risk of developing GII. PrevisEA will transform postoperative care of patients, improving patient outcomes and dramatically reducing the overall cost of care.”
Entac is planning additional applications of the platform technology in gastrointestinal predictive medicine and diagnostics.
About Entac Medical Inc.
Entac Medical is a predictive analytics company developing noninvasive devices for the prediction and diagnosis of gastrointestinal and other medical conditions.
