UCD MedTech spin-out LaNua Medical secures €6m to accelerate development of blood flow tech
Posted 12 December, 2024
Tom Fitzmaurice, co-founder, LaNua Medical; Niall McEvoy, Head of Venture, Elkstone and Dr Cormac Farrelly, co-founder, LaNua Medical. Credit: Naoise Culhane
A UCD MedTech spin-out has raised €6m in seed funding to develop a new technology that aims to make it easier, safer and cheaper for doctors to treat internal bleeding, vascular malformations and many benign and malignant tumours.
(opens in a new window)LaNua Medical, founded in 2024 with the support of NovaUCD, is pioneering a device it believes will modernize embolization procedures - a technique used by surgeons to control the flow of blood in certain areas of the body
The company’s ECORE™ system is designed to enhance the targeted delivery of tools used to block blood flow, and represents a major step for embolization procedures by allowing doctors to restrict blood flow in a targeted segment of veins or arteries while still allowing the use of ancillary medical tools.
The umbrella-shaped device is able to enter blood vessels deep within the body and form an occlusive barrier that allows instruments such as guidewires and catheters to pass through it.
Another aim is to reduce exposure to x-ray radiation for both the patient and practitioner, in addition to reducing overall human error during the procedure.
LaNua Medical believes its device can help improve patient outcomes, lower hospital costs, minimise duration of hospital stays, and reduce stress and procedure times for practitioners.
“Having performed thousands of embolization procedures, I strongly believe this next-generation embolization device is a transformative platform technology. It will not just make existing procedures safer and more effective, but will also enable new clinical applications for minimally invasive embolization procedures worldwide,” said Consultant Interventional Radiologist, and LaNua Medical CMO and Co-founder Dr Cormac Farrelly.
“For example, a combination of embolization and surgery has increased 5-year survival rates by 45% for colorectal cancer, which spreads to the liver in 60% of patients. By improving the efficacy and safety of targeted therapeutic delivery in embolization, LaNua’s ECORE™ device can potentially push survival rates above 80%.”
La Nua Medical was founded by Dr Farrelly, UCD School of Medicine; Tom Fitzmaurice; and UCD School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering biomedical engineers, (opens in a new window)Dr Eoin O'Cearbhaill and Dr Sajjad Amiri.
This recent funding round was co-led by (opens in a new window)Elkstone and (opens in a new window)Atlantic Bridge, with participation from Enterprise Ireland and Furthr VC. The funding will be used to accelerate product development and market access.
Speaking on the announcement CEO and Co-founder of LaNua Medical Tom Fitzmaurice said they were “delighted to complete this €6 million seed round bringing on board sophisticated and experienced Medical Technology investors in Ireland and the United States”.
“It will enable our team to hire additional skilled resources, develop a range of devices to meet the growing demands of embolization in the Interventional Radiology medical community and gain entry into our first market in the United States.”
"LaNua Medical exemplifies Ireland's continued excellence and innovation in the MedTech sector," added Niall McEvoy, Head of Venture at Elkstone.
"As an early investor in pioneering companies like LetsGetChecked, Luminate Medical and Croi Valve, we at Elkstone have seen firsthand how Irish Health Tech and MedTech start-ups can revolutionise patient care on a global scale.”
LaNua Medical, winner of Enterprise Ireland's Big Ideas competition 2024, represented Ireland at the 2024 Pegasus Startup World Cup in San Francisco.
By: David Kearns, Digital Journalist / Media Officer, UCD University Relations (with materials from Micéal Whelan, UCD Research and Innovation)
To contact the UCD News & Content Team, email: newsdesk@ucd.ie
