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Oranmore company has developed a device that allows treatment of nasal condition rhinitis.
Galway medtech start-up Neurent Medical has raised €9.3m in a funding round to develop a technology that allows doctors to treat the nasal condition rhinitis from offices rather than in a surgery.
Neurent Medical was founded by Brian Shields and David Townley and originated from the BioInnovate Ireland programme at the National University of Ireland, Galway.
The latest funding round was led by Fountain Healthcare Partners and included Atlantic Bridge Capital, the Western Development Commission, Enterprise Ireland as well as a syndicate of Irish medtech veterans.
FDA approval is the holy grail for medtech firms
From left: David Townley and Brian Shields. Image: Michael Dillon
The investment will enable Neurent to hire 25 people as well as push ahead with its plans to achieve pivotal approval from the Food and Drug Administration to sell its product in the US.
Rhinitis is an inflammatory disease of the nose and is reported to affect up to 40pc of the population. It is the fifth most common chronic disease in the US.
Treatments up until now have included medication or surgery, but Neurent has developed a minimally invasive handheld radio frequency device that allows patients to be treated in an office setting.
The single-use device is introduced through the nostrils into the nasal cavity under direct endoscopic visualisation, where it deploys a microelectrode array that delivers targeted energy to interrupt the autonomic function within the mucosal structures of nasal cavities, to reverse the inflammatory cascade.
The device will be used in conjunction with an intelligent radio frequency generator that is being designed and developed by Neurent in parallel.
