Kalamazoo Medical Device Startup Raises $9.5M

KALAMAZOO (WWJ) -- Ablative Solutions Inc. Tuesday announced a $9.5 million Series B Preferred Stock financing, led by Petoskey-based BioStar Ventures and Grand Rapids-based Michigan Accelerator Fund 1.

Ablative Solutions founders and angel investors also participated, the company said.

The company says it will use the money to continue to develop its Peregrine System device, which aims to treat high blood pressure by disrupting the patient's sympathetic nervous system -- specifically, nerves in the kidneys.

"The company has made tremendous progress in the two years since its inception with a unique approach to renal denervation, and has done so with great capital efficiency," Dale Grogan of the Michigan Accelerator Fund said in a statement. Grogan has been elected to the company's board.

The Peregrine System is used in procedure Ablative Solutions calls PeriVascular Renal Denervation, which has demonstrated highly effective denervation in pre-clinical studies, with no collateral damage to the artery. The company is now engaged in early clinical evaluations.

The company says it believes strongly that there is value in interrupting signals from overactive sympathetic nerves to treat high blood pressure that's resistant to existing drugs, based on extensive favorable clinical data from open surgical denervation as well as from early endovascular renal denervation experience.

"ASI's technology is unique and we believe will overcome some of the shortcomings that have been seen recently in RF-based renal denervation devices," said Steven Almany, M.D., medical director at BioStar Ventures and an interventional cardiologist at Beaumont Health System.

Added Ablative Solutions CEO, Tim Fischell, M.D.: "We believe that the lessons from clinical experience to date will advance the field, deepening the understanding of the science behind neuromodulation, and, in the end, patients will benefit from improvements in technology and technique."

ASI was founded by two recognized medical device entrepreneurs, Tim Fischell and David Fischell, and is led by Vartan Ghazarossian, president, who has extensive executive experience in both biopharmaceutical and medical device companies. More at www.ablativesolutions.com