TransMedics, Inc., Makers of the First Device to Maintain Functioning Organs Outside the Body, Raises $29.75 Million in Series C Funding Led by 3i.ANDOVER, Mass. -- TransMedics, Inc., a privately held medical device company founded in 1998 to address the unmet un·met adj. Not satisfied or fulfilled: unmet demands. need for better, more effective organ transplant organ transplant: see transplantation, medical. technologies, announced today that it has raised $29.75 million in Series C financing. The company's breakthrough, investigational technology, the Organ Care System The Organ Care System is a medical device designed by Transmedics to allow donor organs to be maintained for longer periods of time prior to transplant. The system dispenses with the traditional method of preserving organs through freezing, replacing it with keeping them in an , is the first organ transport system designed to maintain organs in a warm, functioning state outside of the body to optimize optimize - optimisation their health, enabling living organ transplant. The goal of the system is to ensure the healthiest possible organs for transplant transplant or graft Partial or complete organ or other body part removed from one site and attached at another. It may come from the same or a different person or an animal. One from the same person—most often a skin graft—is not rejected. and to increase the number of usable USable is a special idea contest to transfer US American ideas into practice in Germany. USable is initiated by the German Körber-Stiftung (foundation Körber). It is doted with 150,000 Euro and awarded every two years. transplant organs. TransMedics recently initiated the European PROTECT trial, designed to evaluate the safety and performance of the Organ Care System for heart transplants heart transplant Procedure to remove a diseased heart and replace it with a healthy one from a legally dead donor. The first was performed in 1967 by Christiaan Barnard. . The investment round was led by global venture capital group 3i Group, with additional investments from prior investors Alta Partners, CB Health Ventures, Flagship Ventures, Posco BioVentures, Sagamore sag·a·more n. A subordinate chief among the Algonquians of North America. [Eastern Abenaki s Bioventures, Sherbrooke Capital and VantagePoint Venture Partners. The capital will be used to accelerate TransMedics' growth by continuing the PROTECT trial, and initiating new trials in Europe and the U.S. Additionally, it will be used for commercialization of the Organ Care System, and to extend the platform to other organs beyond the heart, such as the lung, liver and kidneys. "TransMedics is currently on track to meet our development goals, including European market approval early in 2007," said Dr. Waleed Hassanein, president and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of TransMedics, Inc. " We're pleased with the PROTECT trial's progress so far and have plans to expand our clinical studies beyond Germany and the UK in the near future." "TransMedics' Organ Care System is designed to meet a growing global need - currently expected to surpass 200,000 by the end of the decade - for donor organs that arrive at their destination in a healthy state," said Allan Ferguson, Senior Partner of lead investor 3i Group. "We're pleased with the initial success reported in the early stages of the PROTECT trial, and we believe the Organ Care System is poised to transform the landscape of organ transplantation The transfer of organs such as the kidneys, heart, or liver from one body to another. The transplantation of human organs has become a common medical procedure. Typical organs transplanted are the kidneys, heart, liver, pancreas, cornea, skin, bones, and lungs. ." The Growing Need for New Transplant Technologies The number of people requiring a life-saving transplant continues to rise faster than the number of available donors. Of the 91,000 people in the U.S. currently waiting for a donor organ, only a third will receive a transplant, while nearly 7,000 will die each year while waiting for an organ. This means approximately 17 transplant candidates die each day while waiting to receive a donor organ. The situation is equally serious in Europe. For example, of the 12,000 people in Germany currently waiting for a donor organ, only a third will receive a transplant. Nearly 1,000 transplant candidates die each year. While there has been some progress in increasing donation rates in the last year, the demand for donor organs is increasing as well. In the UK today, there are 6,000 patients waiting for an organ transplant. However, fewer than 3,000 transplants Transplants are an American punk rock/rap rock supergroup. They formed in 1999 when Tim Armstrong of the band Rancid played his friend and roadie Rob Aston some beats he had made using Pro Tools and asked Rob if he would consider contributing lyrics. are carried out annually; thus the transplant list continues to get longer. More than half of all hearts that have been consented for donation still go unused. The limits of current cold preservation methods contribute to this problem. Prof. Dr. Dr. Reiner Korfer, medical director of the Heart and Diabetes Centre in North Rhine Westphalia stated: "Our initial experience with the TransMedics Organ Care System has been very encouraging. We believe that maintaining hearts in a beating, functioning state during transport, will result in decreased risk of organ damage and its associated complications." About TransMedics, Inc. Headquartered in Andover, Massachusetts, TransMedics is a privately held medical device company founded in 1998 to address the unmet need for better, more effective organ transplant technologies. The Company has developed the first and only system that allows a new type of organ transplant, called a living organ transplant. This breakthrough, investigational technology, called an Organ Care System, is designed to maintain organs in a warm functioning state outside of the body during transport from organ donor organ donor Transplantation A person/cadaver that donates his/her organ(s) to a recipient to recipient. The goal of TransMedics' technology is to improve outcomes and increase organ availability for the growing population of patients with end-stage organ failure in need of a transplant, bridging the ever-widening gap between the number of organs and the number of recipients awaiting transplants. TransMedics' mission is to enable more patients with end-stage organ failure to benefit from the accepted medical standard of care--successful transplantation transplantation /trans·plan·ta·tion/ (trans?plan-ta´shun) the grafting of tissues taken from the patient's own body or from another. . The TransMedics Organ Care System is designed to help to improve the health of organs being transplanted as well as increase the number of organs available, improving outcomes, and reducing recovery time, hospital stays and reliance on ongoing medical therapies. For more information, visit www.TransMedics.com. About 3i 3i is a leading international venture capital and private equity firm that was founded in 1945 to invest in buyouts, growth capital and venture capital in order to create market-leading companies. Since its inception, 3i has invested over $32 billion worldwide and has a total staff of 700 employees operating in 14 countries. In the U.S., 3i invests in both early and late stage technology companies in the software, communications, semiconductor and healthcare sectors. 3i partners leverage over 150 years of investing and operating experience and a global network to create value for their portfolio and investment partners. With a proven track record and knowledge of venture capital investing, 3i provides hands on support and guidance in building and scaling successful businesses. 3i is a successful active early and late stage investor. We have 10 partners in our U.S. offices in Menlo Park Menlo Park. 1 Residential city (1990 pop. 28,040), San Mateo co., W Calif.; inc. 1874. Electronic equipment and aerospace products are manufactured in the city. Menlo College and a Stanford Univ. research institute are there. 2 Uninc. , CA. and Waltham, MA. During 2005, 3i's VC healthcare team invested in Carmel Pharma, Ulthera, Endosense, Triage triage Division of patients for priority of care, usually into three categories: those who will not survive even with treatment; those who will survive without treatment; and those whose survival depends on treatment. wireless and elbion. It has been a strong year for successful realisations with trade sales of Arakis, NeoPharma, PharMetrics, SpineNext and Arexis and IPOs for ProStrakan, Arpida, Paion, Jerini, Phoqus and Ardana. For more information, go to: http://www.3i.com/. |
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