Michael Barbella, Managing Editor06.06.22
Ceryx Medical has received a £3.8 million influx in funding from various investors to help bring its cardiac rhythm management device to market.
The new funding came from Icehouse Ventures, The Development Bank of Wales, Parkwalk Advisors, British Growth Fund and a consortium of Angel investors. Besides enabling the company to commercialize its technology, the money will finance the first-in-human clinical study of Ceryx’s cardiac rhythm management device, Cysoni, later this year. Cysoni is a bionic device that paces the heart with real-time respiratory modulation. It replicates the natural interaction between heart rate and breathing, prompting the heart to beat as its user breathes, as opposed to the strict ‘metronomic’ beat generated by traditional pacemakers. Cysoni’s ability to listen and respond to the body in this way is a real step forward in the treatment of patients with serious heart conditions.
"Ceryx is an excellent example of how science originally created within the U.K.’s universities can be the basis of a technology business," said Alun Williams, investment director at Parkwalk. "We were delighted to be part of the company’s first fundraising round through our University of Bristol Enterprise Fund, and now our main Opportunities EIS Fund is part of this syndicate at a point of huge significance for the business. We are really excited to see where Stuart and the team take this technology next."
The investment comes at a critical time for Ceryx as it seeks to capitalize on advancements it has made over the last two years. Following backing by Development Bank of Wales, ParkWalk and Angels in 2020, the company accelerated preclinical evaluation of its technology, culminating in the results being published in a leading cardiology journal and positioning the company for progression into a first-in-human study. Now with the added support of new investors, progress is gathering yet more pace.
"The Ceryx Medical technology is nothing short of cutting-edge and the team have achieved impressive results from their trials to date," said Robbie Paul, CEO of Icehouse Ventures. "We look forward to supporting the company as it embarks on first-in-human trials across the United Kingdom and New Zealand for its breakthrough medical device."
The Ceryx team and scientists from the Universities of Auckland, Bath and Bristol, hope to begin in-human trials in the United Kingdom and New Zealand in the final quarter this year.
"Our studies have found that Cysoni’s way of pacing the heart increased cardiac output by 20 percent, when compared with monotonic pacing. The benefits of this for cardiology patients are potentially life-changing and life-extending, because as well as enabling the heart to work more efficiently, Cysoni also repairs the structure of single heart cells. It’s a huge scientific breakthrough," Ceryx CEO Dr. Stuart Plant said. "All the signs point to Cysoni being capable of not only making daily life better for those with heart problems, but also of improving the prognosis for even the most seriously ill cardiology patients. This latest round of funding will enable us to develop our technology for human use and embark on the next phrase of rigorous testing."
Of the 26 million heart failure patients worldwide, around 50 percent die within five years of diagnosis.
"Cysoni will eventually be an implantable device, but for the purpose of the in-human trials we’ll use an external pacemaker device, loaded with Cysoni technology, to pace the hearts of patients with heart failure who have undergone a coronary artery bypass," Plant said. "Normally these patients receive pacing for a few hours after surgery and pacing is then removed. We will pace post-surgery for the whole time they remain in hospital, so we’ll build a really good picture of what Cysoni can do. If patients respond in the same way as our preclinical models, we should see significant improvements in their cardiac performance, which we’re confident will translate to improved outcomes."
Dr Richard Thompson, Senior Investment Executive at the Development Bank of Wales, said: "We’re impressed with the progress made by Ceryx Medical. The lifesaving potential of Cysoni and related developments can’t be overstated and we're eager to see how Ceryx’s technology performs as trials continue for this pioneering Welsh medtech company. We’re pleased to have supported them with our equity investment, and to have co-invested alongside such a strong syndicate."
Parkwalk is the largest growth EIS fund manager and has been the U.K.’s most active investor in backing world-changing technologies emerging from the U.K.’s leading universities and research institutions over the past five years. With £360 million of assets under management, it has invested in more than 140 companies across its flagship Parkwalk Opportunities EIS Fund as well as the enterprise and innovation funds Parkwalk manages for the Universities of Cambridge, Oxford, Bristol and Imperial College. Parkwalk invests in businesses creating solutions to real-world challenges, with IP-protected innovations, across a range of sectors including life sciences, AI, quantum computing, advanced materials, genomics, cleantech, future of mobility, medtech and big data.
The new funding came from Icehouse Ventures, The Development Bank of Wales, Parkwalk Advisors, British Growth Fund and a consortium of Angel investors. Besides enabling the company to commercialize its technology, the money will finance the first-in-human clinical study of Ceryx’s cardiac rhythm management device, Cysoni, later this year. Cysoni is a bionic device that paces the heart with real-time respiratory modulation. It replicates the natural interaction between heart rate and breathing, prompting the heart to beat as its user breathes, as opposed to the strict ‘metronomic’ beat generated by traditional pacemakers. Cysoni’s ability to listen and respond to the body in this way is a real step forward in the treatment of patients with serious heart conditions.
"Ceryx is an excellent example of how science originally created within the U.K.’s universities can be the basis of a technology business," said Alun Williams, investment director at Parkwalk. "We were delighted to be part of the company’s first fundraising round through our University of Bristol Enterprise Fund, and now our main Opportunities EIS Fund is part of this syndicate at a point of huge significance for the business. We are really excited to see where Stuart and the team take this technology next."
The investment comes at a critical time for Ceryx as it seeks to capitalize on advancements it has made over the last two years. Following backing by Development Bank of Wales, ParkWalk and Angels in 2020, the company accelerated preclinical evaluation of its technology, culminating in the results being published in a leading cardiology journal and positioning the company for progression into a first-in-human study. Now with the added support of new investors, progress is gathering yet more pace.
"The Ceryx Medical technology is nothing short of cutting-edge and the team have achieved impressive results from their trials to date," said Robbie Paul, CEO of Icehouse Ventures. "We look forward to supporting the company as it embarks on first-in-human trials across the United Kingdom and New Zealand for its breakthrough medical device."
The Ceryx team and scientists from the Universities of Auckland, Bath and Bristol, hope to begin in-human trials in the United Kingdom and New Zealand in the final quarter this year.
"Our studies have found that Cysoni’s way of pacing the heart increased cardiac output by 20 percent, when compared with monotonic pacing. The benefits of this for cardiology patients are potentially life-changing and life-extending, because as well as enabling the heart to work more efficiently, Cysoni also repairs the structure of single heart cells. It’s a huge scientific breakthrough," Ceryx CEO Dr. Stuart Plant said. "All the signs point to Cysoni being capable of not only making daily life better for those with heart problems, but also of improving the prognosis for even the most seriously ill cardiology patients. This latest round of funding will enable us to develop our technology for human use and embark on the next phrase of rigorous testing."
Of the 26 million heart failure patients worldwide, around 50 percent die within five years of diagnosis.
"Cysoni will eventually be an implantable device, but for the purpose of the in-human trials we’ll use an external pacemaker device, loaded with Cysoni technology, to pace the hearts of patients with heart failure who have undergone a coronary artery bypass," Plant said. "Normally these patients receive pacing for a few hours after surgery and pacing is then removed. We will pace post-surgery for the whole time they remain in hospital, so we’ll build a really good picture of what Cysoni can do. If patients respond in the same way as our preclinical models, we should see significant improvements in their cardiac performance, which we’re confident will translate to improved outcomes."
Dr Richard Thompson, Senior Investment Executive at the Development Bank of Wales, said: "We’re impressed with the progress made by Ceryx Medical. The lifesaving potential of Cysoni and related developments can’t be overstated and we're eager to see how Ceryx’s technology performs as trials continue for this pioneering Welsh medtech company. We’re pleased to have supported them with our equity investment, and to have co-invested alongside such a strong syndicate."
Parkwalk is the largest growth EIS fund manager and has been the U.K.’s most active investor in backing world-changing technologies emerging from the U.K.’s leading universities and research institutions over the past five years. With £360 million of assets under management, it has invested in more than 140 companies across its flagship Parkwalk Opportunities EIS Fund as well as the enterprise and innovation funds Parkwalk manages for the Universities of Cambridge, Oxford, Bristol and Imperial College. Parkwalk invests in businesses creating solutions to real-world challenges, with IP-protected innovations, across a range of sectors including life sciences, AI, quantum computing, advanced materials, genomics, cleantech, future of mobility, medtech and big data.