CardiAQ Valve Technologies, a medical device manufacturer based in Irvine, California, was able to raise $33 million in a recent round of equity funding that was launched in late October. The privately-held company is currently developing a new type of transcatheter mitral valve replacement technology. The company declined to release the names of its investors.

The company has also experienced other successes in 2012. Several months ago, the company was able to test its non-surgical percutaneous mitral health valve prosthetic in a human. This trial took place in Copenhagen, Denmark at the The Heart Centre.

The company’s new technology stands out from the competition in several unique ways. The CardiAQ valve is not intended for use as a mitral valve repair method. Instead, the device was created for implantation or replacement. According to medical data from the company, replacement is an effective way to eliminate regurgitation while retaining the benefits of a simple procedure.

In prepared remarks, CEO Rob Michiels stated, "Our TMVI system is designed to make nonsurgical mitral heart valve replacement a future alternative to open-heart surgical replacement and repair." He continued, "CardiAQ is currently the only transcatheter-transvessel implantation approach to treating MR. While several companies have been trying to perfect a percutaneous approach to repair the mitral valve, we believe that such technologies will have a very difficult time demonstrating sufficient efficacy in treating such a heterogeneous disease."

References

http://www.massdevice.com/news/cardiaq-valve-tech-raises-33m-mitral-valv...