March 3, 2008 – Munich, Germany – Ascenion GmbH announces today that it has obtained equity in Dualis MedTech GmbH, a venture founded in late 2006 to develop and market novel medical-technical implants for the support of critically ill heart patients. Over the last one and a half years, Ascenion has coached the founding team through the pre-seed phase providing advice on all aspects of business and financial planning, company form and structuring and helping with the negotiation of licensing contracts.
Core to Dualis’ business model is a new ventricular assist device consisting of a fully implantable mechanical pump and a wireless energy transfer system. It does not replace the natural heart but rather helps a diseased heart to pump blood through the body. Due to a flow-optimized pump, it solves problems of blood-clotting or haemolysis usually associated with mechanical blood pumping. Moreover, it is the first ventricular assist device to allow free movement of the patient and avoid the risk of infection, as there is no extracorporal pump or transcutaneous wire. The small, wireless control and energy supply unit can simply be worn on the belt.
“The system addresses an urgent medical need,” Andreas Achterberg, CFO of Dualis comments. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the Western world and many patients could benefit from a heart transplantation. However, limited organ availability means that only about 5% of these can receive a transplantation. “Our system provides a new treatment option for the remaining 95% of patients. It will not only dramatically improve their quality of life while waiting for a donor heart, but may also become an alternative to heart transplantation in the longer term.”
Prototypes of the pump and energy transfer system were manufactured and tested at the Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics of the German Aerospace Center (DLR). In-vitro endurance tests confirmed feasibility and reliability of the approach. Animal studies are scheduled to start this year. In parallel, Dualis intends to outlicence the wireless energy transfer system to manufacturers of active implants with applications outside its own business focus.
“We are most impressed not only by the commercial potential of the technology, but also by the strength of the founding team and the progress they have made over the last months in building up the company. Dualis is now ideally positioned to attract professional seed investors and we are very much looking forward to working with them further, throughout the seed and start-up phase,” Christian Stein, CEO of Ascenion comments.
Ascenion has already accompanied numerous spin-offs in the life-sciences field during their foundation and early growth and currently holds equity in 13 companies, including Dualis.
