Atritech completes $30 Million financing
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Minneapolis: Atritech, a clinical stage medical device company, has completed a $30 million round of financing. Thomas, McNerney & Partners led the round along with a substantial investment from Split Rock Partners and insider investments from Prism Ventures, Tullis-Dickerson and Vector Group. Over the past 3 years, the Company has raised approximately $75 million in capital. With this new funding, the company will complete the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) review of the Protect AF clinical trial results along with the commercial launch of the Watchman Laa Closure Technology in Europe. The Protect AF clinical trial evaluates the Watchman device versus the current standard of care, warfarin, in patients with atrial fibrillation. In August of 2008, Atritech announced the filing of its Pre-Market Approval Application (PMA) to the FDA. The Company will present the Protect AF results to the FDA's Circulatory System Devices Panel on April 23, 2009. The watchman device continues to be implanted in a Continued Access Registry (CAP) while the product is under review at the FDA. Till date, over 110 devices have been implanted in CAP at approximately 20 sites in the U.S. and Europe. Atritech's Watchman device is designed to keep harmful sized blood clots from entering a patient's blood stream, potentially causing a stroke. Patients with AF (a heart condition which causes the upper chambers of the heart to beat too rapidly) are at a greater risk of having a stroke. Typically these patients require blood thinning medications to prevent these clots from forming in the heart. Current medical therapy requires frequent monitoring and has diet and other drug interactions causing many patients to stop taking them. The Watchman device may be an effective alternative for patients with AF who may not want to take blood thinning medications for life. "Atritech has developed an exciting new product that in our opinion will offer a significant clinical benefit to the market. We look forward to working with the company to help make the Watchman a commercial success," commented Pete McNerney, Partner at Thomas, McNerney & Partners. Jim Bullock, President & CEO of Atritech, said, "We also look forward to the presentation of the Protect AF trial results this weekend at the ACC. Our results would be of significant interest to any patient with atrial fibrillation currently on warfarin therapy."

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