BARCELONA, Spain – Anaconda Biomed S,L., a medical technology company developing next-generation thrombectomy systems for the treatment of ischemic stroke, has closed €20 million in new funding. The funding will be used for clinical studies of the company’s groundbreaking technology, regulatory submissions in international markets, further product development and manufacturing scale-up.

“With this new round of funding, we will be able to advance our work in developing and testing next-generation technology that has the potential to dramatically accelerate and improve endovascular treatment of major ischemic stroke patients,” stated Francois Salmon, CEO of Anaconda Biomed S.L. “This financial backing is further validation that the lifesaving work we are engaged in at Anaconda is absolutely vital in the quest to reduce the incidence of death and disability following a stroke.”

Finding new and more effective treatments for the onset of stroke remains a medical priority for the healthcare industry. According to the Lancet, stroke is the second leading cause of death worldwide, with 5.5 million deaths attributed to this cause in 2016. A New England Journal of Medicine report from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2016 Lifetime Risk of Stroke Collaborators stated that the estimated global lifetime risk of stroke in 2016 for those aged 25 years or older was 24.9 percent, an increase from 22.8 percent in 1990.

Barcelona, Spain-based venture capital firm Asabys Partners led the round from its fund, Sabadell Asabys Health Innovation Investments SCR, SA, with participation from existing investors Ysios Capital, Omega Funds and Innogest, as well as Sabadell Venture Capital, who joined the previous financing round.

Anaconda’s Advanced Thrombectomy System consists of a delivery catheter, a unique, funnel-shaped aspiration catheter and a stent retriever. When deployed, the funnel self-expands and directly conforms to the artery diameter up to 5mm, locally arresting flow and allowing full thrombus extraction without fragmentation. The system is designed to deliver significant improvement in revascularization rates at both first and third pass.

Anaconda Biomed S.L. has already enrolled 14 patients in a 125-patient first-in-human study, with results to be used to support a regulatory submission to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.