Access Vascular hopes to take a bite out of the infections and complications that can come with delivering intravenous therapies, which can cost health systems as much as $4.5 billion per year.
The company has developed a line of vascular access catheters made of a composite material that helps camouflage them from the body’s typical immune response to unfamiliar intruders and also keeps them slippery enough to reduce the buildup of blood clots.
It previously obtained FDA clearances for midline and peripheral hardware, and, now, it’s collected $22 million in venture capital funding to scale up its production and expand its portfolio.
The series C round was joined by a consortium of unnamed new and existing investors, according to the Massachusetts-based company’s announcement. Access Vascular had logged a $20 million series B in March 2021 led by TVM Capital Life Science.
The company’s Mimix technology absorbs water into the surface of the catheter, and, once fully lubricated, it helps blood and plasma flow faster around it. This helps the catheter, which can contain as much as 35% water, to avoid some of the body’s stickier proteins and prevent the cascading foreign-body reaction.
Traditional catheters are made of polyurethane, a hydrophobic material that repels water and allows more platelets to build up on its rougher surface. According to Access Vascular, its Mimix-based catheters have shown 97% less thrombus accumulation.
Earlier this month, the company also presented in vitro modeling data that showed its catheters delivered a 99.998% reduction in bacterial adhesion compared with the standard polyurethane. Bacterial adhesion can often lead to central-line associated bloodstream infections, known as CLABSIs, causing a range of dangerous in-patient complications.