Medtech firm secures funding to support its push for US regulatory clearance
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Breakfast Business with Enterprise Ireland on Newstalk.
What funding did SymPhysis Medical recently secure?
Now, Galway Medtech Symphysis Medical recently secured a 1.25 million grant to support its push for US regulatory clearance and commercialisation. And the firm is also looking to complete a crowdfunding round by the end of the year. And with us to explain more is Dr. Michelle Tierney, co-founder and chief scientific officer of Symphysis Medical. First up, Dr. Michelle, your company has developed a device to drain fluid from the chest. Can you tell us more about it?
Morning, Susan. Yes, of course. So we are based in Galway. We're a medical device startup that came out of the BioInnovate needs led program out of the University of Galway. And it was during that time that we observed one of the most common symptoms that can occur in late stage cancers, which is fluid in the chest. And this can be quite a debilitating issue that patients have to deal with, whereby litres of fluid can build up in their chest cavity, causing significant pain and breathlessness. So we were observing the current drainage tubes that were available for these patients. We saw how cumbersome they were and how difficult they could be to use for their patients, families and friends. And we kind of just felt...
End of life does not necessarily mean need to mean diminished quality of life. And this is how we came up with our concept for release. It's a first of its kind digital drainage device that will transform the patient experience when it comes to fluid drainage. So we're really looking at simplifying how the drainage device works in the home. We've simplified how it looks on the patient and really trying to better that experience, not just for the patients themselves, but for those that have to help them, which is their family, their friends and also the health care professionals.
Well as I'm listening to you I'm just thinking about the sheer difference that could make as you say to somebody's quality of life I mean if they can't breathe or if they're breathing under significant difficulty if you can take away the pressure that the fluid is there I know obviously I'm preaching to converted in you now Michelle but I'm just thinking through the physical impact of that and Looking at your journey so far, you've raised more than 4 million from Enterprise Ireland and EIT Health. Can you tell us what your funding journey, specifically the experience of that has been like over the years?
Yeah, it's been a tricky one, Susan, I would say, but not dissimilar to many other medtech startups, you know, that are in our ecosystem in Ireland. And I guess that comes from the fact that we have had to, you know, we've had great support, as you say, from Enterprise Ireland and from angel syndicates, Iris, Medtech Syndicate and Boole would be three of the ones that have supported us in particular. And I suppose it's just there are a lot of competition in Ireland. And I suppose at the moment with where the economic environment is, a lot of VCs in particular tend to support existing portfolio companies or are really more interested in the later stage investments and the larger round investments that might have been de-risked to a greater degree than we might be as an early stage medtech.
So it's really that pinch point between seed and series A, where we see the gap at the moment. And so, as you mentioned earlier, we've secured, lucky enough to secure some US grant funding that's going to help our commercialization over there from 2020, late 2026 and 2027.
What innovative device has SymPhysis Medical developed?
And throughout our years, we've got grant funding from EI, EIT Health, and a few others that we've had to rely on to bridge that gap. So it's been a tricky one, but lucky enough because there have been those grant supports. But it just kind of means that the funding journey now for those earlier stage companies is a lot more fragmented. It can be harder to plan longer term because you're getting smaller pots of funding as opposed to, you know, one... clean, large round that you can plan and build your milestones around.
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