CLEVELAND, Ohio — Medical device company Arteriocyte Medical Systems has invested an undisclosed amount of money in a Park City, Utah, company that developed a disposable device to extract fluids, tissues and blood clots from patients.
The Control Medical Technology device, called ASPIRE, enables doctors to remove, or “aspirate,” human tissues. Arteriocyte Medical and Control Medical Technology LLC will jointly develop ASPIRE to remove bone marrow from patients, compressing their spinal discs to make the marrow more easily removed.
The marrow could be used by Arteriocyte Medical’s Magellan devices, which harvest and quickly concentrate stem cells and blood platelets during surgeries. These concentrated cells can be fed back to patients, boosting the body’s ability to repair itself.
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As part of the strategic investment, Arteriocyte Medical will be the sole orthopedic distributor for ASPIRE in the United States.
“We are excited to partner with Arteriocyte Medical Systems to develop new applications for the ASPIRE system,” said Shawn Fojtik, chief executive of Control Medical, in a written statement. “The strategic investment of Arteriocyte Medical will allow us to accelerate the development of the ASPIRE system in important surgical arenas, while leveraging Arteriocyte Medical’s well-established distribution channels in orthopedics.”
For Arteriocyte Medical, the investment enables the co-development of a new aspiration device that can be used with its Magellan platform.
“Control Medical’s FDA-cleared ASPIRE handheld disposable aspiration system represents an important innovation for surgeons needing to aspirate tissue during surgery,” said Arteriocyte CEO Don Brown in the release. “We are thrilled to be working with Shawn and [his] team to accelerate our cell and tissue engineering efforts in Utah.”
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Arteriocyte Medical was started in 2007 by clinical-stage biotechnology company Arteriocyte Inc. and a $10 million investment from DW Healthcare Partners. DW Healthcare is a Salt Lake, Utah, investment firm that invests in middle- and late-stage health care companies.
Arteriocyte Inc. is developing proprietary stem cell therapies from several sources of adult stem cells, such as bone marrow and umbilical cord blood. Stem cells are primitive cells that can develop into many types of tissues. Arteriocyte is trying to use the cells to repair damage from heart attacks and strokes, and to heal wounds, among other applications.
In addition to its Cleveland office, Arteriocyte Inc. operates an office in Hopkinton, Mass. The company has received millions of dollars of research and development grants from Ohio’s Third Frontier project. The comapany’s research collaborators include the Cleveland Clinic, Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
Arteriocyte Medical was joined by several medical device makers, global distributors and investors in Control Medical’s first round of venture capital financing, according to a written statement distributed by the Healthcare Sales & Marketing Network. Spring Bay Ventures in Jacksonville, Fla., led the investment round, Control Medical said.
“We are excited about the opportunity to invest in Control Medical Technology, led by Shawn Fojtik,” said Daniel Ryan, vice president of Spring Bay Ventures, in the Utah company’s statement. “Shawn is a terrific innovator with a proven ability to turn his ideas into businesses that meet clinical needs.”
Ryan is joining the board of Control Medical, according to the statement.
According to the Control Medical statement, the company’s ASPIRE system could be the first cost-effective, disposable device that uses rotating vacuum technology for breast biopsy. The system can be modified to do prostate and other biopsies, the company said.
[Feature photo: Stem cell scanned by electron micrograph, by Annie Cavanagh and Dave McCarthy, courtesy of Wellcome Science.]
