US & Galway-based VERSONO® Medical Ltd was named Dragons’ Den winner of the CX Innovation Prize at the international CX Symposium in London last week.
The competition was between nine companies from the US, Germany, Israel, Singapore and Ireland, all of which have developed innovative technologies in the field of vascular and endovascular treatment.
The US/Galway-based firm faced off in a Dragons’ Den-style event in which VERSONO Medical CEO Finbar Dolan presented on the company’s plans for its revolutionary FastWire Technology Platform, including its progress on enabling the endovascular treatment of chronic complex total occlusions (CTOs), and the latest developments in its FREEFLOW pivotal study.
VERSONO was judged the winner by a panel of Dragons including Robert Mitchell, General Manager of global healthcare company Organon; Prof. Frans Moll, vascular surgeon; Prof. Tilo Kolbel, Director of the German Aortic Centre in Hamburg; Jeffrey B. Jump, founder of Casper-Medical; and Charles Taylor, CEO of Veryan Medical. The event was chaired by Baron Stephen Greenhalgh.
FastWire is a truly disruptive technology designed to quickly access previously untreatable complex blockages in arteries, increasing success rates and reducing risk of amputations via endovascular techniques.
It uses a novel proprietary ultrasonic technology developed and patented by the company to cross through severe, complex blockages in patient’s arteries, above, and below, the knee with Critical Limb Threatening Ischemia (CLTI). The technology has huge potential application in endovascular procedures.
VERSONO Medical is in the process of completing the FREEFLOW pivotal study for its FastWire System. Designed to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the FastWire device through the FDA-approved Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) study, FREEFLOW is being performed in three centres the Vascular Institute of the Midwest (VIM) in Davenport, Iowa; the Cardiovascular Institute of the South (CIS) in Houma, Louisiana; and the Vascular Institute of Chattanooga (VIC) in Tennessee.
Subject to the successful completion of the study, the company will seek US market approval to launch FastWire.
The Charing Cross (CX) Symposium took place from April 23-25th at the ExcCeL in London. The event brings together world-leading experts in the treatment of vascular and endovascular disease to discuss the challenges and emerging trends in the field. Hosted every three years, the CX Symposium is a prestige event which holds education, innovation and evidence as core values.
VERSONO CEO Finbar Dolan says: “It’s an honour to win the Dragons Den innovation prize at the CX Symposium in London. This is one of the prestige events in the field of vascular and endovascular treatment and we are thrilled to be selected as the standout candidates in a highly competitive group of companies developing innovative technologies.”