By E. Janene Geiss
Philadelphia, Feb. 8 - Accumetrics, Inc. said Wednesday that it raised $8.25 million in a series C financing round.
RiverVest Venture Partners was the lead investor. Others include new investor Kaiser Venture Partners and previous major investors Essex Woodlands Health Ventures, KB Partners, PTV Sciences and a private corporate investor.
The financing will fund the expansion of marketing and sales of the company's VerifyNow diagnostic tests, which evaluate platelet function and patient response to antiplatelet agents.
"The ability to rapidly and easily assess platelet function in patients who have been administered powerful antiplatelet agents is an important unmet clinical need for the effective management of millions of patients with cardiovascular disease. The VerifyNow System fulfills this unmet need and will lead to better patient management," Dennis Wahr, a partner at RiverVest Venture Partners, said in a company news release.
The company's VerifyNow diagnostic tests evaluate patient response to antiplatelet drugs, including aspirin and Plavix (clopidogrel), two of the most important and widely used therapies in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease.
In addition, there is a VerifyNow test for ReoPro (abcimixmab) and Integrilin (eptifibatide), both GP Iib/IIIa inhibitors, which are injectable antiplatelet drugs used in conjunction with coronary artery procedures.
The Food and Drug Administration-cleared tests are reimbursed by Medicare and can be performed in the hospital laboratory and physician's office, officials said.
Non-responsiveness to aspirin and other antiplatelet agents, often called "aspirin resistance" or "antiplatelet resistance," and their related risks have recently become a subject of much attention in the medical community, officials said.
Millions of Americans rely on antiplatelet therapy, including daily aspirin, to prevent heart attacks, stroke and other vascular events, yet their response to these drugs vary widely. A growing body of evidence shows many of these patients may not be adequately protected by these drugs' antiplatelet effects and this could potentially lead to increased adverse outcomes, officials said.
Accumetrics' lead product, the VerifyNow Aspirin test, is a quick, inexpensive blood test that enables physicians to determine a patient's response to aspirin and to identify patients who are not adequately responding and thus are potentially at significantly higher risk for life-threatening cardiovascular events.
The company's newest product, the VerifyNow P2Y12 test, was recently cleared by the FDA and measures the effects of Plavix, a prescription antiplatelet therapy for the prevention of heart attack or stroke, officials said.
San Diego-based Accumetrics develops, manufactures and markets the VerifyNow System, a comprehensive system for the assessment of platelet function.
| Issuer: | Accumetrics, Inc.
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| Issue: | Series C financing
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| Amount: | $8.25 million
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| Investors: | RiverVest Venture Partners, Kaiser Venture Partners, Essex Woodlands Health Ventures, KB Partners, PTV Sciences, private corporate investor
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| Announcement date: | Feb. 8
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