WESTMINSTER, CO—Dec. 2, 2015—Surefire Medical, Inc., a commercial stage company developing a new class of direct-to-tumor delivery systems employed in minimally invasive interventional procedures, announced today the closing of $15M Series C financing. The round, led by Tullis Health Investors, will be used for a global launch of the new Surefire Precision, a device specifically designed to meet the clinical need for targeted delivery systems in the treatment of primary liver cancer (HCC).
“Tullis Health Investors looks forward to working with Surefire Medical on domestic and international commercial expansion, in particular the opportunity for Surefire in China,” said John Tullis, Partner at Tullis Health Investors. “With more than 50 percent of global primary liver cancer cases occurring in China, the launch of the Precision is positioning Surefire to drive adoption by physicians performing embolization procedures, and may also help to decrease overall treatment costs.”
KMG Capital Partners, Partisan Management Group, MCG Partners, High Country Ventures and angel investors also participated in the financing.
Approximately 80 percent of the more than 700,000 liver cancers diagnosed annually worldwide are inoperable, requiring alternative treatment. Surefire Medical’s technology is currently being used in more than 100 hospitals in the U.S. and in 14 countries worldwide by interventional radiologists performing minimally invasive chemoembolization and radioembolization procedures in treating both primary and secondary (metastatic) liver cancer.
Incidence of liver cancer, the third most common cause of cancer deaths, continues to rise due to metastasis and rising hepatitis B and C incidence.
“With the closing of this Series C Financing and our collaboration with the Tullis team, we are launching our innovative and new Precision technology to physicians worldwide for treatment of primary liver cancers,” said James Chomas, President and CEO of Surefire Medical. “The growing body of clinical evidence suggests that increasing the amount of therapeutic agents delivered into the tumor may improve patient response and overall survival. With the Surefire technology, more of the dose reaches the tumor while sparing healthy tissue.”
Surefire Medical, Inc., based in Westminster, Colo., was founded in 2009 to develop innovative infusion systems for the Interventional Radiology and the Interventional Oncology markets. Surefire’s technology is designed to precisely deliver embolic agents through a unique microcatheter with an expandable tip, which collapses during forward flow to allow normal blood flow to carry therapy as close to the tumor as possible. In reverse flow, when drugs/microspheres are being delivered by the system, the tip automatically and dynamically expands to the vessel wall, creating a pressure gradient that drives the therapeutic agents deeply into the tumor while blocking backflow that might damage healthy tissue. The Surefire Infusion Systems and Surefire Precision have received regulatory approval in the U.S., Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Mexico and Brazil. www.surefiremedical.com
