New Investment Opportunity: CoreMap
Mapping the way to treat atrial fibrillation
- Only 1% of millions of patients worldwide who suffer from potentially deadly heart condition of atrial fibrillation are treated with proven ablation therapy
- Regions of heart requiring treatment are currently near-impossible to map
- CoreMap's revolutionary mapping combines micro-scale-electrodes and software enabling physicians to pinpoint heart regions where ablation may be effective
- Hot sector: Affera, sold to Medtronic for $925M, addresses 1% of patients already served
- CEO Sarah Kalil is industry veteran; CSO Peter Spector is renowned clinical electrophysiologist; expert team hails from Boston Scientific, Abbott, Biosense Webster, Medtronic, Rhythmia
- $5M extension to oversubscribed $20M initial Series B closing led by Hula Ventures
Dear Josb,
Millions of people around the world suffer from atrial fibrillation (AF), a condition which increases the risk of stroke fivefold and triples the risk of heart failure. Millions of patients around the world are without a treatment option because current technology cannot map exactly where in the heart the problem is coming from.
OurCrowd is investing in CoreMap, a US-based company developing a patented approach to electrophysiology (EP) mapping of complex arrhythmias, enabling treatment for millions. The details in this email are based on information received from, and verified solely by, the company.
The Problem
Medications are less than 50% effective in treating AF. The treatment of choice when medication is ineffective is ablation, a process where the heart tissue triggering the rhythm problem is selectively destroyed.
Current EP mapping technology only works when the heart rhythm being mapped is organized, meaning the flow of electricity is identical from one heartbeat to the next. Unfortunately, in AF the flow of electricity changes from beat to beat and cannot be mapped using currently available technology. As a result, commercial mapping systems used for AF ablation provide anatomic guidance only; they cannot use electrical recordings to identify the drivers of AF. This anatomic approach is effective in only a small minority of AF patients. As a result only 1% of patients with AF are considered candidates for ablation. The other 99%, have no choice but to live with their AF.
The Solution
CoreMap is developing a revolutionary, space-age combination of hardware and software that enables physicians to pinpoint the malfunctioning areas of the heart, even without an organized heart rhythm.
The company has developed a novel, patented catheter with 100+ ultra-high-resolution micro-electrodes enabling a completely new way to map electrical activity in the heart. The catheter, combined with a patented way to configure the micro-electrodes feeding the company's proprietary data processing software, provides unparalleled resolution in EP mapping.
One practitioner who reviewed the technology called it "the best chance to create a truly effective, individualized cure for persistent atrial fibrillation."
The Market
Moving the ablation rate from the current 1% to just 5% creates a multibillion-dollar opportunity. Affera, a company whose technology only addresses the 1% of patients already served, was recently acquired by Medtronic for $950M.
The Team
Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Peter Spector, the inventor of CoreMap's technology, is a global authority in EP mapping. He is the Director of EP and Professor of Medicine and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Vermont, and the author of widely respected papers and books on the subject. The team includes industry experts formerly at Boston Scientific, Abbott, Biosense Webster, Medtronic, Rhythmia, and Topera.
The Round
$5M extension to oversubscribed $20M initial Series B closing led by Hula Ventures. Funds will be used to support product development, FDA 510(k) submission, and a clinical ablation outcome study.
Meet the CEO
We're hosting a webinar/conference call on Wednesday, March 2nd, at 7PM Israel / 12 Noon New York / 9AM San Francisco for investors to meet CEO Sarah Kalil and learn more about CoreMap.
Can't make the webinar? Register and we will send you a recording of the call.
The CoreMap Solution
CoreMap's product has two components, a catheter and a workstation.
The InvenioTM catheter is a single-use catheter consisting of an array of 100+ electrodes on the end of a long shaft, which is delivered trans-venously through an IV. The handle stays outside the body and the operator can move the catheter inside the heart for sequential acquisition of data. The catheter includes magnetic tracking, and employs a patented electrode pair configuration.
The VidereXTM workstation does the signal processing and uses the local activation data acquired by the micro-electrode array to pinpoint the regions in the heart responsible for maintaining the arrhythmia.
Next steps:
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