Fountain Healthcare Partners (Ireland) lead Series B Financing
Series A Financing led by Sofinnova Partners (France) in 2010
Proceeds will advance product development and clinical studies towards regulatory approval for market release in the US and Europe.
Dublin, Ireland, 26th September, 2012 – Medical device company Mainstay Medical Ltd. today announced that is has successfully completed an oversubscribed Series B financing round for $20.0M (€15.3M) led by Fountain Healthcare Partners (Ireland - “Fountain”). Other new investors in the Series B round include Medtronic (US - “Medtronic”), Capricorn Venture Partners (Belgium - “Capricorn”) and Seventure Partners (France - “Seventure”). Existing Series A investors Sofinnova Partners (Sofinnova - France), and Twin City Angels (TCA – Minneapolis, USA) also participated. This funding will advance the on-going development of Mainstay Medical’s disruptive new medical device for the treatment of patients with chronic non-specific low back pain. As part of the financing, Mainstay Medical relocated its head office and executive leadership to Dublin, Ireland from Minneapolis, Minnesota US.
The World Health Organization reports that low back pain is the most prevalent of musculoskeletal conditions, and affects nearly everyone at some point in time. Low back pain is the number one cause of lost working days in the developed world, with a staggering 7.5 Million people in the US with chronic back pain at any time, and similar numbers for Europe. The cost to society of lost working days and health care treatment is enormous. For many of these people, low back pain results from malfunction of muscles responsible for spine stability. Mainstay Medical has developed a novel approach using an implantable device like a “pacemaker for the back” to restore spine stability to ameliorate pain and allow return to work.
Mainstay was founded in 2008 by serial entrepreneur Dr. Danny Sachs, and then under the leadership of CEO Peter Crosby, Mainstay conducted a European Feasibility Study across four leading clinics in Europe. The promise of the new therapy was clearly demonstrated in that Feasibility Study and in parallel the Company also advanced the development of its own proprietary products, and added to its intellectual property portfolio. Mainstay will use the proceeds of the Series B financing to expand the team for product development, quality, clinical, regulatory and administration, as it moves towards its goals of achieving regulatory approval in Europe and running a global clinical trial leading to a PMA submission to the FDA in the US.
Dr. Manus Rogan, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Fountain Healthcare Partners said, “We are excited about Mainstay, and the potential to relieve the back pain suffered by millions of people worldwide. We are particularly pleased that Mainstay and the syndicate of international investors has recognised the economic value and attractiveness of Ireland as a location to build an innovative medical device company.”
Mainstay Medical Chief Executive Peter Crosby commented, “Our early clinical results are very encouraging, and with this new investment we will be able to make great progress in advancing Mainstay’s products from concept to reality, and start to build our business.” Mr. Crosby added, “The Mainstay approach has the potential to save billions of dollars on health care expenditure, while also creating a multi-billion market for us, so it is a winning situation all around.”
Antoine Papiernik, Managing Partner at Sofinnova Partners remarked, “We saw the vision of Mainstay when it was presented to us as just an idea, and we took the risk to lead the first investment. It is great to see that the company has advanced so far, so quickly, and so efficiently. We are pleased to add such quality new investors to the syndicate.”
As part of the financing Dr. Manus Rogan (Fountain) will join the Board of Directors, and Dr. Stephen Oesterle (Medtronic), Dr. Frank Bulens (Capricorn) and Iain Wilcock (Seventure) will become Observers. Existing independent director Andrew Weiss (CEO Coaxia, past head of Medtronic Neuromodulation business) will continue.