Funds Will Support Continued Clinical Evaluation of the AccuCinch Left Ventricular Repair System
SANTA CLARA, Calif. – May 30, 2018 – Ancora Heart, Inc., a company developing a novel therapy to address heart failure, today announced the closing of an initial tranche of $17.8 million in a financing round expected to reach $30 million, led by Savitr Capital and other existing investors.
Ancora Heart’s AccuCinch® Ventricular Repair System is a minimally invasive investigational treatment for heart failure and functional mitral regurgitation (FMR). The AccuCinch procedure is intended to directly repair the enlarged left ventricle, targeting the underlying cause of heart failure. The system is designed to reduce the size of the left ventricle, improve left ventricular function, and reduce symptoms of heart failure, with the goal of improving quality of life for patients.
The financing will be used to support clinical trials evaluating safety and efficacy of the AccuCinch, as well as ongoing product development efforts.
“Effectively treating heart failure and FMR is incredibly challenging today, and there are enormous unmet needs for these patients. This funding represents an important milestone that will advance the AccuCinch system as an alternative option that addresses the shortcomings of current heart failure and FMR treatments,” said Jeff Closs, president and CEO of Ancora Heart. “We have been encouraged by early clinical results and engagement from leading heart centers participating in studies of the AccuCinch system and look forward to continuing to work with them to better understand the potential benefits of our innovative technology.”
The AccuCinch therapy has the potential to treat heart failure and FMR patients in whom the disease has progressed beyond the ability for medications and pacemakers to manage symptoms, or for whom the risks of open-heart surgery are too high. Unlike current technologies that replicate surgical procedures to replace or repair an otherwise-normal mitral valve, AccuCinch is designed to repair the left ventricle directly to enable proper mitral valve function.
About Heart Failure and Functional Mitral Regurgitation
About 6.5 million U.S. adults live with heart failure, a condition in which the heart’s muscles slowly weaken and lose their ability to pump enough oxygen-rich blood to the body.[1] Up to 74 percent of people with heart failure also suffer from FMR, a condition caused when the left ventricle of the heart becomes enlarged to the point where it pulls the mitral valve leaflets apart and allows blood to flow backwards into the left atrium.[2] Heart failure and FMR patients suffer from debilitating symptoms including persistent exhaustion, trouble breathing, confusion and loss of memory. There is no cure for heart failure or FMR, and about half of people who develop heart failure die within five years of diagnosis.1
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1 Benjamin E.J., Blaha M.J., Chiuve S.E., et al. Heart disease and stroke statistics—2017 update: a report from the American Heart Association. Circulation 2017; 135: pp. e146-e603
2 Al-Amri, H. S., Al-Moghairi, A. M., & El Oakley, R. M. (2011). Surgical treatment of functional mitral regurgitation in dilated cardiomyopathy. Journal of the Saudi Heart Association, 23(3), 125–134. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsha.2011.04.001