R3 Vascular raises $17.8m for devices to treat peripheral artery diseases

R3 Vascular, an early-stage US medical device company, has raised $17.8 million in a Series A financing round, led by an undisclosed corporate investor and 415 CAPITAL.

The funding comprised new equity investments of $15 million and the conversion of $2.8 million of convertible notes.

The Series A round also saw participation from HBM-MedFocus and Wexford Capital.

R3 Vascular has created a technology platform for developing and manufacturing fully bioresorbable vascular scaffolds (BVS) technology with a sirolimus coating for the treatment of peripheral artery diseases (PAD) below the knee.

Jack Springer – Executive Chairman of R3 Vascular said: “The number of patients suffering from BTK vascular disease is growing significantly for many reasons, including a large global increase in diabetes and obesity.

“These factors, along with others, are leading to a rapid rise in critical limb ischemia (CLI), a severe form of PAD. The physician community has been waiting far too long for a more safe and effective way to treat BTK disease.”

The bioresorbable vascular scaffolds platform created by R3 Vascular is said to combine the best of both worlds of below-the-knee (BTK) therapy, said US medical devices company. The platform has been designed to provide a ‘stent-like’ support of a scaffold in addition to the anti-inflammatory result of sirolimus, but ‘disappearing’ over time as the vessel heals, said R3 Vascular.

Proceeds from the funding round will be used by R3 Vascular for taking up clinical development of a next generation of below-the-knee interventional therapies for peripheral artery diseases (PAD).

R3 Vascular has announced Kamal Ramzipoor as its CEO.

Kamal Ramzipoor said: “The unique mechanical properties and polymer technology of R3 Vascular’s proprietary bioresorbable scaffold, already validated in multiple clinical trials, offer differentiating features compared to other bioabsorbable scaffolds.

“It is becoming clear that the use of scaffold support offers a potential competitive advantage compared to other balloon-based therapeutic approaches in BTK interventions. R3 Vascular’s polymeric technology is the only platform that has achieved ‘DES-like’ mechanical performance at the sub-100-micron level across all scaffold diameters.”