The Galway based medtech startup AtriAN Medical has announced that it has raised €2.3 million in seed investment and is ready to begin clinical trials.
AtriAN is a medtech startup which spun out of NUI Galway developing a new device which could radically improve treatments for people suffering from atrial fibrillation.
The irregular heartbeat of atrial fibrillation causes patients to have palpitations, weakness, fatigue and dizziness, as well as making them five times more likely to have a stroke due to the formation of clots.
Atrial Fibrillation affects 2 percent of the population under 65 years and 9 percent of the population over 65.
Ken Coffey, Co-founder and CEO of AtriAN said “We would like to thank our investors for their tremendous support of AtriAN.”
“Securing this seed round funding will allow us to progress towards clinical trials to find long-term resolution of this prevalent and debilitating disease.”
“There is currently no suitable treatment and we believe our technology will offer patients a powerful and safe treatment that should last for years.”
Current treatment options for Afib are limited and carry significant risks. The first method is the anti-arrhythmic drugs. But these are only effective in 30 percent of cases and carry significant side effects.
The next option is to have a cardiac ablation which uses either heating or freezing to create an intentional scar on the heart in a process known as pulmonary vein isolation.
AtriAN are developing a medical device which sends electrical signals that ‘knock-out’ hyperactive neuronal cells at five specific locations on the heart.
This reduces the overall ‘sensitivity’ of the heart to AFib, providing a very long-term, and durable treatment as these hyperactive cells will not regenerate.
Barry O’Brien, Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of AtriAN Medical, said “Our technology targets the source of the problem bringing together technical developments relating to pulsed electric fields and recent scientific findings in the field of cardiac electrophysiology.”
“Several years of excellent research at Mayo Clinic and NUI Galway gives us the confidence to bring this forward for patient trials.”
This investment round was led by Western Development Commission and included Mayo Clinic Ventures, Enterprise Ireland, Atlantic Bridge and Xenium Capital as well as private angel investors with a strong med-tech track record.
The current level of investment will support the medtech company through its initial human trials, with patients expected to be tested next year at a specialist centre in Europe.
