Startup Secures Third Funding Round for Cuffless Blood Pressure Measurement

Denmark-based medical device company Sense A/S recently secured a $5.9 million round of funding from venture fund SEED Capital and Vaekstfonden. This latest influx of cash will help the company refine its cuffless blood pressure measurement device. Sense A/S expects to secure clearance for the device from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and have it launch commercially next year.

Officials from the company claim that the standard method for measuring blood pressure at a physicians’ office using a cuff is not the most efficient or effective way. The device will remedy incorrect diagnostics of hypertension at the physicians’ offices, which themselves (nervousness during consultation) can cause elevated readings.

It is the company’s third round, since it was founded in 2006 in connection with an investment from SEED Capital. Second round of investment came from SEED Capital and Vaekstfonden in 2010. ContiPress is currently a prototype that has been clinically tested on people with very large differences in both blood pressure, body mass index and age with “promising results that verify the measurement principle,” according to a news release.

“This solution has a number of challenges including discomfort with the measurement itself and nervousness during the consultation, which both may contribute to erroneous measurements,” the company explained in a statement. “In addition, the realization is that a variety of cardiovascular diseases can be diagnosed much better by measuring blood pressure over a standard 24-hour circadian rhythm, and for this the cuff method is not very suitable.”

The Sense A/S device, which is called ContiPress and worn by the patient, continuously measures the wearer’s blood pressure every 10 seconds, for 24 hours a day. ContiPress includes an intelligent patch that the physician or nurse places on the patient’s upper arm. The device stores the blood pressure data for analysis later. The current iteration of the device does not include wireless connectivity.

Another company, Sotera Wireless, is developing a wireless-enabled remote vital signs monitor called ViSi Mobile that also includes a cuffless blood pressure device.

High blood pressure affects more than a fourth of the Western world population and it is estimated that up to 12 percent of all deaths can be linked to the disorder, according to the company.