Boston Scientific leads round for VC-backed Amaranth Medical
Amaranth Medical, a medical device manufacturer backed by Singapore’s Bio*One Capital and Phillip Private Equity, has received a Series C round of funding from US-listed Boston Scientific.
The size of the investment was not disclosed but it is understood to be substantially larger than Amaranth's Series B round, which closed in October 2013. That round was led by DCP Management, with existing investors Bio*One, Phillip PE, US-based Charter Life Sciences and new investor Venstar Capital also participating.
The new capital will be used to advance the clinical development of Amaranth's bioresorbable scaffold used in treating coronary artery disease. The device supports metal stents that assist the artery during the remodeling process following surgery. It dissolves in the body so does not need to be removed once the patient has recovered.
Boston Scientific is one of the three major coronary stent manufacturers in the US, alongside Medtronic and Abbott Laboratories. Biosensors International, a Singapore-listed medical device company backed by Hony Capital, is a leading player in drug-coated metal heart stents.
The global market for drug-coated heart stents is said to be worth $4 billion, while the US market for interventional cardiology is expected to grow to nearly $5 billion by 2017, according to iData Research.
"The involvement by Boston Scientific is a strong endorsement of our technology and strong intellectual property position. Using our platform, we have the ability to use very large polymers and potentially create the world thinnest bioresorbablepolymer stent," said Alex Koo, a director at Phillip PE.
Amaranth is headquartered in Silicon Valley, and its research and manufacturing operations are located in Singapore and the US. The company was spun-off from Singapore's Nanyang Technological University, where two professors attracted $7.5 million in funding in 2006.
Last year Phillip PE, Bio*One Capital and Charter Life Sciences exited another Singapore and US-based drug maker, Inviragen, to Takeda Pharmaceutical of Japan. The buyer paid $35 million up front plus a further $215 million once certain clinical development targets are reached, giving the investors a money multiple of up to 7.5x.
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