Obesity device firm raises $27.3M for clinical trials
Goleta-based BAROnova has raised $27.3 million to fund clinical trials of its obesity treatment, bringing the medical device firm’s total funds raised to date to $41.3 million.
The company is developing a product it calls the TransPyloric Shuttle. The firm said the device may be able to slow the digestion process and create the sensation of fullness, which can in turn slow or stop patients from overeating.
Many obesity-oriented medical devices require surgery, but BAROnova said that the TransPyloric Shuttle device can be placed into the stomach endoscopically through the mouth in an approximately 10-minute outpatient procedure and removed in about the same amount of time.
“This funding will provide BAROnova with the opportunity to finish development on a product that has clinically demonstrated surgical levels of weight loss without exposing patients to the anatomy alterations required of weight-loss surgery,” Hugh Narciso, the company’s founder and CEO, said in a news release.
The Series C funding round closed on Feb. 15 and was led by new investors Sante Ventures and Boston Scientific Corp. The deal included the firm’s earlier investors — ONSET Ventures, Highland Capital Partners and Arboretum Ventures — along with new investor Lumira Capital.
BAROnova’s last fundraising bout was a $7.5 million Series B round led by a strategic investment from Allergan, the firm that purchased Santa Barbara-based Lap-Band owner Inamed in a deal valued at more than $3 billion in 2006.
