New equity infusion continues funding CoAxia's studies of its NeuroFlo(TM) Perfusion Augmentation Therapy for Ischemic Stroke
MINNEAPOLIS, April 1, 2008 /PRNewswire/ -- CoAxia(TM), Inc. of Maple Grove, MN, today announced the closing of an additional $11.5M financing from current investors to support the continuation of CoAxia's ongoing clinical trials. The investment is an extension of the previously announced C Round and will allow CoAxia to continue its SENTIS pivotal FDA trial of NeuroFlo Perfusion Augmentation Therapy in acute ischemic stroke, as well as other ongoing feasibility studies to evaluate use of the same technology in additional stroke populations.
Canaan Partners and Prism Venture Partners co-led the recent $11.5M financing, with Baird Venture Partners, Affinity Capital Management, Johnson and Johnson Development Corporation and SVB Capital Partners also participating as major investors.
Brent Ahrens, General Partner from Canaan Partners stated, "Speaking for my colleagues involved in the CoAxia investment, we are pleased with the progress made by the team at CoAxia, and believe that the NeuroFlo technology has the potential to be widely applied in ischemic stroke -- with major benefit to stroke patients."
Andrew M. Weiss, President and CEO commented, "We are grateful for the support from our current investors, who, with the conclusion of this C Round extension, have invested more than $30M in CoAxia and the NeuroFlo technology. Our objective for the coming 24 months is to finish enrollment in our SENTIS pivotal trial, demonstrate the feasibility of NeuroFlo in several large stroke patient populations, and begin positioning CoAxia for future commercialization."
Enrollment in CoAxia's ongoing SENTIS clinical trial has now passed 125 patients with participation from over 50 major stroke centers in North America and Europe. Analysis of interim safety data suggests that treatment with CoAxia's NeuroFlo(TM) catheter is well tolerated with a very low rate of the complications normally associated with stroke patients. In addition, the FDA has recently approved an expansion in the scope of the trial to now treat patients up to 14 hours after symptom onset.
Investigator Gary L. Bernardini, Director of the Stroke Service at Albany Medical Center who has enrolled a number of patients in the trial says, "We continue to be encouraged by the safety profile of the treatment and look forward to the completion of the pivotal trial as well as applying this technology to additional populations in future studies."
In addition to the SENTIS trial, CoAxia continues to enroll within two additional feasibility studies, one which applies NeuroFlo treatment to stroke patients up to 24 hours after symptom onset and another which adds NeuroFlo treatment to the current standard of care -- intravenous delivery of the thrombolytic drug, t-PA.
CoAxia, Inc. is a venture-backed, privately held, development-stage company focused on providing perfusion augmentation therapies that improve outcomes for patients with cerebral ischemia resulting from stroke, vasospasm and other conditions.
CoAxia, Inc.
