Flow Medical has scored a $1 million investment from a device manufacturer to help the University of Chicago startup commercialize its interventional radiology product, leaders announced Thursday.
Co-founded by Osmanuddin Ahmed, MD, an associate professor of radiology, the company is creating a multi-function catheter to help diagnose and treat venous thromboembolic disease. Flow Medical plans to use the funds for development and testing ahead of applying for 510(k) clearance from the U.S. FDA, according to a June 15 announcement from the university.
“A year ago, we had the theory that if we could push device engineering to the edge of what’s possible, then physicians, investors, and manufacturers would want to partner with us,” said Kathleen McGing, MBA, chief business officer, who started working with Flow Medical as a business development fellow through the school’s Polsky Compass deep tech accelerator. “Over the past year, it’s been thrilling and motivating to have both our scientific and business development theories proven true.”
The startup also is working to complete its initial seed round, which requires raising $3 million to fund further development and commercialization plans. Radiologist Ahmed and colleagues were able to build a prototype with support from a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) phase 1 grant.
Ahmed and colleague Jonathan Paul, an associate professor of medicine, created Flow Medical after facing dissatisfaction with the currently available devices for treating pulmonary embolism. Flow Medical said its initial product will be the “first catheter-directed thrombolytic catheter designed specifically for use in the pulmonary arteries.”
“Up to now, catheters originally designed for other purposes—such as small vessel arterial thrombolysis—have been used in much larger pulmonary arteries, for blood clots that are typically more organized, larger, and more diffuse,” Ahmed said in a March 2022 news item from the university. “We have incorporated several features that we feel will make the procedure simpler to perform, more effective, and with more precision.”
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.