Three former executives of C.R. Bard in Galway have secured over £12 million in venture capital to fund the development of a range of medical devices for the protection and repair of the heart, brain and blood vessels.
The investment by Schroders Venture Capital, Mercury Asset Management Private Equity, Wellcome Trust and Forbairt values MedNova, based in Galway, at over £25 million even though then company is still at the development stage with no sales and no profits.
The £12.4 million second-phase investment has come from Schroders Ventures, which has put in £5.4 million, Mercury Asset Management (£4 million), Wellcome Trust (£2.4 million) and Forbairt (£600,000). Following the capital injection from the venture capital group, Schroders will be the biggest shareholder with around 46 per cent, followed by MedNova management with 28 per cent, Mercury with 15 per cent, Wellcome with about 9 per cent and Forbairt with just over 2 per cent.
MedNova was set up the three former C.R. Bard executives - Mr John O'Shaughnessy, Mr Chas Taylor and Mr Paul Gilson - in August 1996 with the backing of Schroders and IDA Ireland. The company focuses on developing medical devices for use in three high-growth, less invasive therapy markets - carotid intervention, intravascular filtration and cardiovascular defect repair, each using catheterised delivery techniques.
MedNova marketing director Mr Chas Taylor said: "We have a number of products under development including a unique biomaterial which promises to have broad application in the treatment of vascular disease. In addition, we are developing a platform of products that will improve clinical outcomes in cardiovascular intervention, specifically aimed at reducing the incidence of stroke."
Its principal product, the Neuroshield, is designed to reduce embolisation in the brain during less invasive interventional procedures, thereby reducing the risk of stroke and other complications. This product is expected to to into clinical trials in the near future.
The director of Mercury Asset Management Private Equity, MrLindsay Dibden, said the funds would be used to develop MedNova's products to the clincial trials stage before seeking European and American approval for the products.
"This is venture capital investment in its purest sense," he said, in a comment on MedNova's current developmental stage.
Mr Dibden said MedNova is likely to be floated on a market like NASDAQ or sold to a trade buyers in about three years. He added that the potential market for MedNova's products is in excess of $1 billion.
