Spiro Medical, which debuted last year, reeled in $67 million in series A funding it plans to use to develop its novel treatment for asthma.
Dubbed the Pulmonary Neuromodulation System, the platform is touted by the company as a first of its kind. The money will be used to boost clinical work before starting the regulatory approval process in the U.S., the company said in a Jan. 7 press release.
The Irvine, California-based medtech is looking to match neuro-respiratory medicine with implantable devices and other digital tools that target asthma as well as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and chronic coughs.
Leading the round was Andera Partners with Omega Funds and Sherpa Healthcare Partners. Also participating in the round were HSG, Supernova Invest, Northern Light Venture Capital and Hero Inc., which is part of the India-based conglomerate Hero Enterprise.
As part of the investment round, Spiro named Raphaël Wisniewski of Andera, Claudio Nessi of Omega and Ouyang Xiangyu of Sherpa to its board of directors.
“We believe this is a rather unique opportunity to be starting a project with issued patents and some human data which informs us about the potential for this exciting new clinical indication for neuromodulation,” Rinda Sama, Spiro’s CEO, said in a release. “We are also highly confident that we can build a world-class system given our team’s experience and expertise in developing implantable neuromodulation systems.”
The company conducted a pilot clinical study of its technology last year.
It’s been a busy start to the new year for Andera Partners. The day after announcing its investment in Spiro, the Paris-based investment firm said it was part of a $160 million series A round and debut for Alveus Therapeutics, which wants to advance an undisclosed number of obesity candidates, featuring the dual-acting asset ALV-100 as its lead candidate.