coramaze technologies GmbH receives € 1 million to develop an innovative medical device for the minimally invasive treatment of heart valve diseases

coramaze technologies GmbH, a German company founded and based in Essen as a spin-off from the Western German Heart Center, is developing an innovative medical device for the minimally invasive treatment of one of the most common structural heart valve diseases, mitral regurgitation. The mitramaze® valve repair system technology has been developed through a technological research project funded by the EXIST research transfer of the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology. The company now announces that it has raised a seed funding of € 1 million in order to advance the pre-clinical development of its mitramaze® valve repair system to treat mitral regurgitation in patient segments that cannot undergo standard cardiac surgery. The round is co- led by High-Tech Gründerfonds and Seed Capital Dortmund.

“We are honored by our investors’ confidence and pleased they share our strong belief that the mitramaze® valve repair system technology stands out in the highly competitive ‚race for the mitral valve’. We are certain that our concept offers genuine and fundamentally new features which will overcome present limitations of available products” commented coramaze ‘s CEO and co-founder Dr. Laura Figulla. “Completing this seed round provides us with sufficient resources to further advance pre-clinical development and prepare the subsequent clinical development phase.“

The CE-approved technologies presently used for inoperable patients have clear limitations, such as lacking efficacy in reducing the mitral regurgitation, traumatic implantation and application damaging the myocard or the native valve structure and often requiring surgical support. coramaze’s competitive advantages are built on a proprietary technology that allows a fully atraumatic insertion and positioning within the patient’s heart without the risk of dislocation even making the simple procedure reversible if required.

Other than being more efficient, less traumatic and less complex to implant than competing devices, the mitramaze^® valve repair system will also be significantly smaller and softer, making this catheter-based percutaneous intervention less risky particularly in high-risk patients with frail vessels.

“In pre-clinical studies, our technology has demonstrated a remarkable reduction of mitral regurgitation up to a total prevention of the pathologic atrial backflow,” stresses the inventor and co-founder Prof. Dr. Till Neumann. “In combination with the minimally invasive route of application, we are convinced that our device shows great promise to offer new therapeutic approaches in broad patient segments for the treatment of this common cardiovascular disease.”

“We are excited about coramaze’s unique yet simple device which we believe is bearing huge potential to become the standard treatment for inoperable patients in the future. We are looking forward to working with the team and are eagerly awaiting further data from the ongoing pre-clinical studies towards the end of the year” says High-Tech Gründerfonds’ responsible investment manager Dr. Christian Jung.

Nico Hemmann, investment manager of SeedCapital Dortmund adds: “The experienced management team has been working together for years and brings a strong scientific background in the fields of interventional cardiology and medical technology well complemented by outstanding entrepreneurial skills and spirit“.

While the company is currently clearly focused on minimally invasive treatment of mitral valve regurgitation, the technology can in principle be expanded to other structural heart valve disease, such as tricuspid regurgitation.

For additional information, please contact info@coramaze.com or go see the company’s website at www.coramaze.com.

About coramaze technologies
coramaze technologies GmbH was founded in 2013 as a privately held medical device company, focused on developing a break-through technology to meet unmet needs in the treatment of heart valve disease – a billion-dollar global market. The company’s mitramaze ® valve repair system is based on an on-going EXIST research project at theWesternGermanHeartCenterof the University of Essen-Duisburg, and is intended for catheter-based percutaneous implantation into the beating heart.

Mitral regurgitation (MR) is one of the most common structural heart valve diseases and affects millions of people worldwide. For decades, open-heart surgery has been the only available treatment for this disease. Normally, the mitral valve closes when the left ventricle contracts, preventing blood from flowing backward into the left atrium. MR occurs when the valve fails to seal completely. Patients with MR suffer from severe symptoms, including difficulty breathing, heart failure, and even increased mortality. Until recently up to 40% of patients with severe MR were excluded from treatment due to advanced age or comorbidities. Furthermore, there is no therapeutic treatment option for asymptomatic patients with severe MR.

coramaze technologies’ catheter-based mitramaze^® valve repair system will be implanted minimally invasively in a low risk and quick procedure and thus targets inoperable and asymptomatic patient segments.

Contact:
coramaze technologies GmbH
Dr. Laura Figulla
Kruppstr. 82-100
45145 Essen
Tel: +49 179 557 0001
info@coramaze.com
www.coramaze.com

About SeedCapital Dortmund
SeedCapital Dortmund invests in young, innovative high-tech start-ups companies. The seed financing provided is designed to enable start-ups to take an idea through prototyping to market launch. SeedCapital Dortmund invests up to EUR 500,000 in the seed stage, with the potential for up to a total of EUR 1.5 million per portfolio company in follow-on financing. Investors in this partnership include Sparkasse Dortmund, NRW.Bank as well as private investors. Furthermore, SeedCapital Dortmund collaborates closely with local Competence Centres, such as Technology Center Dortmund,Bio-MedicineCenter, MST.factory as well as the Center for Production Technologies.

Contact:
SeedCapital Dortmund GmbH & Co. KG
Nico Hemmann
Freistuhl 2
44137 Dortmund
Tel.: +49 (231) 183342-13
Fax: +49 (231) 183342-99
info@seed-do.de
www.seedcapital-dortmund.de

About High-Tech Gründerfonds
High-Tech Gründerfonds invests in young, high potential high-tech start-ups. The seed financing provided is designed to enable start-ups to take an idea through prototyping and to market launch. Typically, High-Tech Gründerfonds invests EUR 500,000 in the seed stage, with the potential for up to a total of EUR 2 million per portfolio company in follow-on financing rounds. Investors in this public/private partnership include the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, the KfW Banking Group, as well as strategic corporate investors including ALTANA, BASF, B. Braun, Robert Bosch, CEWE, Daimler, Deutsche Post DHL, Deutsche Telekom, Evonik, Lanxess, media + more venture Beteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG, METRO, Qiagen, RWE Innogy, SAP, Tengelmann and Carl Zeiss. High-Tech Gründerfonds has about EUR 573.5 million under management in two funds (EUR 272 million HTGF I, EUR 301.5 million HTGF II).

Contact:
High-Tech Gründerfonds Management GmbH
Dr. Christian Jung
Schlegelstraße 2
53113 Bonn
Tel.: +49 (228) 823 001-45
Fax: +49 (228) 823 000-50
info@high-tech-gruenderfonds.de
www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de