Today, we’re happy to announce our investment in Fluid Biomed’s $27M US oversubscribed Series A financing.
We have been keenly following the company for several years as their team aimed to develop a novel bioresorbable neurovascular stent for the treatment of brain aneurysms. We are excited to work with this team and add this company to Amplitude’s portfolio as we believe Fluid has the potential to become the gold standard in aneurysm care.
Founded at the University of Calgary by two exceptional neurosurgeons, John Wong and Alim Mitha, Fluid aimed to develop the world’s first polymer-based bioresorbable stent for neurovascular aneurysms. Their goal was to develop a stent that resorbed inside the brain, thereby leading to better outcomes for patients and physicians.
What are neurovascular aneurysms:
Neurovascular aneurysms are abnormal bulges or dilations in the walls of the blood vessels in the brain, caused by weakened vessel walls. These aneurysms are a serious medical concern because they can rupture, potentially leading to a subarachnoid hemorrhage, a life-threatening type of stroke characterized by bleeding into the space surrounding the brain.
The focus of brain aneurysm treatment today focuses on preventing rupture. Current approaches include surgical clipping or endovascular therapies. Surgical clipping involves opening the skull to place a metal clip at the base of the aneurysms but these techniques are not commonly used due to its risk profile for patients. Endovascular techniques such as coiling or stenting are less invasive and involve threading a catheter through the blood vessels to fill the aneurysms with coils or reinforce the vessel wall using stents or flow-diverting devices. Stenting is becoming much more common practice for physicians but all the stents currently on the market are metal, leading to increased risk of blood clotting and potential failure. Once a metal stent is placed inside the brain, it cannot be taken out and a further procedure cannot be done.
Source: Pacific Neuroscience Institute
How Fluid is solving the problem:
Fluid Biomed has created ReSolv™, the world’s first polymer-based bioresorbable flow-diverting stent. Uniquely constructed of dissolving polymer and metal, this innovative medical device provides a scaffold to allow better healing and visualization of the blood vessels. This device has the potential to transform aneurysm care as the company has shown in early clinical trials quicker tissue reformation and enables retreatment for clinicians so if the aneurysm doesn’t resolve, clinicians are able to operate on the aneurysm again, something which is not possible today with the current metal stents.
Canada’s continuation of developing and building world-class companies:
Amplitude is excited and proud to translate the exciting innovation coming out of the Canadian ecosystem and to scale emerging technologies into globally competitive life sciences companies that can massively impact human health globally.
Fluid is a another great example of a home-grown Canadian company with global ambitions that Amplitude is supporting. With an exceptional set of founders, experienced investors and a differentiated technology that has the potential to become the standard of care in aneurysm treatment, Fluid has positioned itself to be a leader in the neurovascular space.
