Ophthalmic medical device company Implandata Ophthalmic Products GmbH (Implandata) announced that the company accomplished a first closing of its Series C funding round. The company was able to raise a mid-single digit million Euro amount from a strategic and several institutional and private investors. Among the new investors were Heidelberg Engineering GmbH/Germany, Occident Group AG/Switzerland and NKB GmbH/Germany. The first closing is complemented by the existing investors, including KfW, HTGF, Peppermint Charité Beteiligungsfonds and several private investors and ophthalmologists. The company intends to complete the Series C-round by raising an upper end single digit million Euro amount by the fall of 2018.

Max Ostermeier, CEO of Implandata states: "This first C-round closing enables us to diligently pursue commercialization of our CE marked EYEMATE™ system for improved glaucoma care in Europe, to further advance our product pipeline, and to commence US regulatory activities. We are in particular excited about the competence and expertise of the new investors, enabling us to reach important value inflection points rapidly."

"Continuous IOP monitoring is an exciting emerging field that may help identify novel patterns and hidden correlations with structural and functional measures of glaucomatous damage," comments Kfir Azoulay, Head of Corporate Strategy at Heidelberg Engineering GmbH and a newly-appointed member to the Implandata Board of Directors. "We look forward to working closely with the Implandata team on advancing glaucoma research and patient care by utilizing our Spectralis OCT Platform, including our proprietary Glaucoma Module Premium Edition (GMPE), together with measurements obtained with the EYEMATE™ implant".

Cédric Barra from Occident Group AG explains: "We are glad to take part in this financing round and are excited to accompany Implandata and its highly motivated team of experts in the future. We are convinced that Implandata’s product portfolio will have a major impact on monitoring glaucoma patients’ eye pressure and thus improving the patients’ quality of life in the long term."

"As a recent shareholder of Implandata, we are pleased to be part of and actively support another very promising life science technology company from Lower Saxony with its ambitious growth strategy," said Klaus Tönnesmann of Kapitalbeteiligungsgesellschaft Niedersachsen, Germany, a subsidiary of NBank, Lower Saxony's investment and development bank.

Intraocular pressure control represents a considerable challenge to glaucoma patients and their ophthalmologists. Most current IOP measurement methods rely on in-office procedures performed by trained medical staff. Unfortunately, such measurements are randomly obtained only a few times per year, even though it is fairly established that eye pressure is highly dynamic, influenced by many parameters, and changes (fluctuates) throughout the day and night. In contrast to the sporadic readings obtained in standard clinical practice, the EYEMATE™ system provides actionable IOP measurements throughout the 24 hour period, outside the eye care specialist office, while enhancing treatment options and contributing to reduced risk of glaucomatous vision loss. As theEYEMATE™ system provides direct feedback to the patient in a home setting – information previously unavailable to the patient – therapy compliance is improved, as demonstrated in pre-market studies. Additionally, EYEMATE™’s remote patient care capabilities allow for better quality and more efficient disease management, as the number of unnecessary office visits are reduced for a considerable number of patients, while the eye doctor obtains more and better information about the patient’s situation.

 
About Implandata
Implandata is a privately held, ISO 13485 certified medical device company, which was founded in 2010 in Hannover/Germany. With the CE marked EYEMATE™ system, Implandata has developed the world-wide first system for continuous monitoring of IOP. The EYEMATE system includes a surgically implantable micro-sensor (to be implanted in conjunction with cataract, glaucoma or corneal surgery, eventually also in a stand-alone procedure) for direct measurement of eye pressure. A patient hand-held device for sensor implant powering and data read-out is communicating real-time via internet with eye care specialists (and the patient as well). Most recently published long-term patient follow-up data confirmed product safety and utility(1). The company is expanding its product portfolio with different sensor implant versions, allowing to address the various needs of glaucoma patients.

About Glaucoma
Glaucoma is a chronic eye disease and the leading cause for irreversible vision loss worldwide. IOP is the only modifiable risk factor to reduce the peril of vision loss. Reduction and control of IOP at glaucoma patients limits the risk of disease progression considerably(2). Close to 80 million patients are affected by the disease globally; because of aging populations the number of patients is expected to increase to 112 million patients by 2040(3). Thus, Implandata is addressing with its products for improved glaucoma care a pressing need in a further growing market.

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