US women’s health company secures US$42.5m for uterine fibroids device

The US women’s health company Gynesonics has raised US$42.5m in funding to expand the commercialisation of its uterine fibroids device.

Gynesonics aims to develop minimally invasive, incision-free technologies for diagnostic and therapeutic applications.

Its flagship product, the Sonata System, is the first FDA-cleared medical device for diagnostic intrauterine imaging and transcervical treatment of symptomatic uterine fibroids, a medical condition affecting up to 80 per cent of adult women.

Fibroid removal has been limited to medical procedures, such as hysterectomies, which carry risks and require more recovery time.

However, Gynesonics’s new technology promises to remove fibroids in a 45-minute outpatient procedure with most patients resuming regular activity the next day.

The treatment, available at the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust and 16 other NHS hospitals across Britain, combines ultrasound imaging with radiofrequency energy to gradually reduce the size of these non-cancerous growths in the womb.

Gynesonics’s latest funding round brings the company’s total funding raised to date to US$67.2m.

Skip Baldino, president and CEO of Gynesonics, said: “This funding will enable Gynesonics to continue to expand commercial operations and provide millions of patients suffering from symptomatic fibroids a safe and efficacious minimally invasive treatment.”

Joyce Erony, general partner at Amzak Health, said: “Gynesonics continues to lay a strong foundation for success, having achieved a number of important commercial milestones in the most recent quarters.

“The company is very well positioned to continue the acceleration of its growth going forward.

“Amzak Health and our fellow Gynesonics investors are very excited about the company’s prospects to become the leading long-term solution in the treatment of symptomatic fibroids.”

Hugo Harrod of MVM Partners, the newest venture capital fund investing in Gynesonics, added: “Uterine fibroids cause suffering to millions of women.

“MVM is glad to support Gynesonics in offering a uterus-preserving, incisionless alternative to hysterectomy and myomectomy.”