Maastricht-based medtech startup Health Value Creation that develops surgical devices for minimal invasive surgeries in the stomach (laparoscopic) and bowel has raised 2 million euro in a Series-A round led by Chemelot Ventures. Limburg Business Development Fund (LBDF) and existing shareholder Inkef Capital also participated in the round. The capital raised will be used to obtain regulatory approval for two devices.
Located at the Brightlands Maastricht Health Campus, Health Value Creation has recently completed the design and clinical research studies for a device that prevents so-called ‘anastomotic leakages from which patients that have just had a bowel surgery can suffer. The device enables physicians to predict the quality of the anastomosis (the new connection in the bowel) during surgery and by doing so prevent complications. The impact of the device can be significant, because each year more than 1.5 million bowel surgeries are performed in Europe and the USA alone. 10 percent or 150.000 patients suffer from an anastomotic leakage and 8 percent or 12.000 patients die. The associated healthcare cost globally are 1.8 billion. “We aim to help prevent these complications, thus saving lives and greatly reducing the associated costs,” says Dr. A. Veenhof, founder and CSO of Health Value Creation, in an announcement about the funding.
For abdominal minimal invasive surgeries surgeons often use a device called a trocar. The device developed by Health Calue Creation is a trocar closure device that enables faster, safer and more secure stitching of wound0s (suturing). The clinical research studies demonstrate that the device is effective in optimally closing trocar wounds after laparoscopic surgery and reduces the chances of wound herniation, a hernia caused by an incompletely-healed surgical wound
The company intends to use the results of the clinical study and capital raised to apply for market approval in Europe (CE mark) as well as the U.S. (510K).
“The first human trials have already been very encouraging. Further optimization and validation is expected to result in rapid market approval and acceptance”, according to Marcel Kloosterman, Director of Chemelot Ventures.