WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., Aug. 30, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Iantrek, Inc., a medical device company founded by ophthalmic innovator Dr. Sean Ianchulev, announced the closing of a $23M Series B financing. The oversubscribed financing was led by institutional investors Visionary Ventures and Sectoral Asset Management, Inc. The capital will be used to initiate clinical introduction and post-marketing studies of Iantrek’s Micro-Interventional Glaucoma Surgical (MIGS) devices in the United States. Marc-Andre Marcotte, CFA, Partner at Sectoral Asset Management, and Dr. Farrell Tyson, General Partner at Visionary Ventures, will join Iantrek's Board of Directors.
Glaucoma is the most common cause of irreversible blindness, affecting more than 75 million people globally. The MIGS device market is the highest growth segment in eye surgery with an estimated total market of $500M in annual sales and CAGR exceeding 20% per year. Iantrek is the only MIGS company with FDA-registered technologies designed to address both natural aqueous outflow pathways, trabecular and suprachoroidal. Earlier this year, the company unveiled its breakthrough CycloPen™ micro-interventional system targeting the suprachoroidal outflow pathway – an established therapeutic target where MIGS micro-stent interventions have demonstrated significant and sustained outflow enhancement with the majority of patients achieving IOP reduction of 20% or more. The first cases in the US using Iantrek’s suprachoroidal technology were performed earlier this month. The company will present long-term clinical outcomes at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology in Chicago later this year.
Iantrek further announced the appointment of Dr. Ianchulev, the company’s founder and Chairman, as the company’s CEO and strengthened its ophthalmic technology leadership with the appointment of Jason Cha as the Vice President of Sales and Marketing and Ginger Clasby as the Head of Clinical Operations and Regulatory. Mr. Cha was instrumental in the successful launch of the Hydrus® Microstent at Ivantis, Inc., and Mrs. Clasby led the regulatory approval of the CyPass® Microstent while at Transcend Medical, Inc., prior to the acquisition of both companies by Alcon AG. In addition, the company has gathered a strong roster of clinical and industry experts on its corporate and advisory boards which include Dr. Robert Weinreb, James Mazzo, Jeffry Weinhuff, Andrew Corley, Dr. Iqbal “Ike” Ahmed, Dr. Douglas Rhee, Dr. Rick Lewis and Dr. Stephen Bloch.
“There remains a significant unmet clinical need to provide safe and effective micro-interventional tools for aqueous outflow management,” said Dr. Ianchulev, who is also Professor of Ophthalmology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Director of Ophthalmic Innovation and Technology at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai. “We are grateful to have a world-class syndicate of investors supporting our efforts to advance these new technologies. With two commercial ready MIGS platforms, Iantrek is uniquely positioned to transform the horizon of micro-interventional ophthalmic surgery.”
About Iantrek, Inc.
Iantrek, Inc. is an ophthalmic medical device company developing advanced micro-interventional surgical technologies. For additional information, visit www.iantrekmed.com
About Visionary Ventures
Visionary Ventures is a venture capital firm that leverages its unique information advantage approach and strategy to connect capital and insight with the most promising life sciences and ophthalmology startups. Visionary gains that information through partnerships with 80+ KOLs, industry experts, and strategic acquirers. By building a team of experts, professionals, and industry leaders at the forefront of the process, they are tapping into a unique advantage to their venture investments. With a team of industry authorities impacting these decisions, they can make informed decisions about how they vet these companies and gauge their potential. Learn more about their people, portfolio, and perspectives at www.visionaryvc.com and connect with them on LinkedIn.
About Sectoral Asset Management, Inc.
Founded in 2000, the Sectoral Asset Management group is one of industry-leading specialists, exclusively focused on managing global healthcare portfolios. 100% employee-owned with offices in Montreal, Geneva, and Hong Kong. Clients include leading global pension plans, private banks and family offices. In addition, they have long-standing sub-advisory relationships for institutional investors in Europe and Asia. More on www.sectoral.com.
This press release may contain forward-looking statements and information relating to, among other things, Iantrek, Inc. (the “Company”), its business plans and strategies and its industry. These statements reflect management’s current views with respect to future events based on information currently available. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause the Company’s actual results to differ materially. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, as they are meant for illustrative purposes and they do not represent guaranties of future results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements, all of which cannot be made. No person or entity assumes responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of forward-looking statements. No person or entity is under any duty to update such statements to conform them to actual results.
