Francis Medical, a US-based medical device developer targeting prostate cancer, has received $18m in series A funding from a consortium including medical device producer Boston Scientific.
Venture capital firm Arboretum Ventures led the A round, which also featured H2Oey Ventures, an affiliate of Solas BioVentures Fund, and family office Tonkawa.
Francis Medical is working on a minimally-invasive device that will treat urological cancer using water vapour. It raised the cash following feasibility trials in the Dominican Republic, Paraguay and Panama.
Michael Hoey, Francis Medical’s founder chief technology officer, and Michael Kujak, its president and CEO, founded and led NxThera, a benign prostatic hyperplasia treatment developer acquired by Boston Scientific in August this year for up to $406m.
The series A proceeds will support additional international clinical work, followed by a US investigational device exemption pilot study planned for late 2019.
Hoey said: “Our goal is to move quickly to expand the potential of cancer ablation by water vapour as a vital, non-invasive treatment for prostate cancer as well as for kidney and bladder cancers.
“We foresee this technology as a true minimally invasive breakthrough that will improve quality of life and expand the cancer treatment options available today for patients suffering from prostate, bladder and kidney cancers.”
