Polares Medical Closes a $40M Financing to Complete Pilot Clinical Studies

Polares Medical SA, a clinical stage medical technology company based in Lausanne announced today the closing of a $40 million financing led by Longitude Capital (Menlo Park) with the participation of Decheng Capital (Menlo Park / Shanghai), Endeavour Vision (Geneva), IDO Investments (Muscat), Earlybird Venture Capital (Berlin), and Wellington Partners (Munich).

The company is focused on the development of a unique mitral valve hemi-replacement system to treat patients suffering from mitral regurgitation (MR), Mitral valve regurgitation is a condition in which the mitral valve in the heart doesn't close tightly, allowing blood to flow backward in the heart. If the mitral valve regurgitation is significant, blood can't move through the heart or to the rest of the body as efficiently, making patients feel tired or out of breath.

Feasibility demonstrated in first clinical studies

Polares Medical’s solution to MR takes a novel approach to the original concept of hemi-replacement of the mitral valve by replacing the posterior leaflet with a prosthetic leaflet designed to enhance coaptation with the native anterior leaflet. Early clinical results have demonstrated the feasibility of this concept. “Polares’ approach to treating MR has the potential to be a new first-line treatment for a large range of both functional and degenerative mitral regurgitation patients. We are excited to partner with the Polares team and this strong group of syndicate partners in the advancement of this innovative hemi-replacement technology,” said Maxwell Bikoff of Longitude Capital.

Polares Medical closed a $25 million Series A financing in 2018 to bring the former Middle Peak Medical technology from an in-vivo proof of concept to a clinical first-in-human. “We achieved the Series A financing objective of bringing the Polares technology to the clinic. With this Series B financing, we intend to advance our clinical studies in Europe and the United States,” said Jacques Essinger, Ph.D, Chairman and CEO.