Ultrasound device player receives €2m grant for glioblastoma treatment
CarThera, a French company that designs and develops ultrasound-based medical devices to treat brain disorders, has been chosen by the EIC Accelerator Pilot to receive a €2 million grant and €10.5 million in equity for the development of its DOMEUS project for the treatment of glioblastoma (GBM) patients.
The DOMEUS project comes at a pivotal moment, as the company is gathering data from its international (American/French), multicentre, pilot clinical study with the larger version of its device, the SonoCloud-9. With the DOMEUS project, CarThera will be able to scale-up its processes and organisational structure to bring its technology to an increasing number of patients. It will also extend the functionalities of its SonoCloud device.
Frederic Sottilini, CEO at CarThera, said: “The fact that the European Union has selected CarThera is a strong testament to the quality of the company’s technology and the sustainability of its development project. The EIC grant will be a powerful financial tool for CarThera to keep apace in its developments and get to market quickly.”
After successfully raising €10 million in Series B funding in December 2018, CarThera launched a pilot study in GBM using the SonoCloud device, as well as an exploratory investigator-sponsored trial in Alzheimer’s disease; both of which it is now completing.
Carole Desseaux, chief clinical officer at CarThera, said: “Following ten years of research and development in collaboration with renowned academic research laboratories and clinicians, the SonoCloud is now ready for large scale clinical deployment as a first-in-class device.”
The next round of funding is planned for early 2021. This Series C financing will be used for the future development stages of the SonoCloud device in Europe and the United-States up to market authorisations and the preparation of its commercial launch.
Diana Saraceni, general partner at Panakès Partners, the lead investor in the previous financing round, said: “This significant liquidity injection from the EIC will perfectly complement the finance that private investors and venture capital funds have committed for the success of the Series C round. It will also incentivise new investors to join a financially sound company in its ambitious project.”