Carthera, founded in 2010 as a spin-off from AP-HP Paris and Sorbonne University, develops ultrasound-based medical devices to treat a range of brain disorders. Its lead product, SonoCloud®, is an intracranial implant designed to temporarily open the blood-brain barrier and is currently in clinical trials in Europe and the United States. The company is preparing a registrational international, multicenter, randomized 1:1 open-label pivotal trial to evaluate overall survival in recurrent glioblastoma patients treated with carboplatin plus the SonoCloud-9® system versus standard of care (lomustine and temozolomide). Carthera raised an additional €4.5M, bringing its Series B to €42M; those funds will support launching the pivotal rGBM study. In parallel the company plans to advance its clinical and preclinical pipeline in neurodegenerative diseases and is actively seeking research and clinical collaborations with pharmaceutical and biotech partners to use SonoCloud for brain delivery. The company was founded by Pr. Alexandre Carpentier, is led by CEO Frederic Sottilini and chaired by Oern Stuge MD, and has offices in Lyon and Paris plus a subsidiary in Boston, Massachusetts. CarThera is a French medtech company and spin‑off from AP‑HP and Sorbonne University that developed SonoCloud, an implantable ultrasound device that temporarily increases blood‑brain barrier permeability to boost drug delivery. The company is gathering data from an international (American/French), multicenter pilot clinical study using a larger version, the SonoCloud‑9, and is completing investigator‑sponsored trials in Alzheimer’s disease. With the EIC‑backed DOMEUS project, CarThera plans to scale up processes and organizational structure, extend SonoCloud functionalities, and increase patient access worldwide. Financially, CarThera was selected by the EIC Accelerator to receive a €2.0M grant and €10.5M in equity, building on a €10M Series B raised in December 2018. Management intends to use upcoming financing (a planned Series C in early 2021) to fund development through market authorizations in Europe and the U.S. The company works closely with academic partners and research laboratories in Paris and Lyon as it transitions from clinical to commercial stage. CarThera develops therapeutic ultrasound-based medical devices to treat brain disorders, with its core product being SonoCloud, an intracranial ultrasound implant that temporarily opens the blood–brain barrier (BBB). The company was founded in 2010 by Professor Alexandre Carpentier as a spin-off from AP-HP, Greater Paris University Hospitals, and Sorbonne University, and is led by CEO Frederic Sottilini. CarThera is based at the Brain and Spine Institute (ICM) in Paris and maintains laboratories at the Bioparc Laënnec incubator in Lyon. It has an active clinical program: a multi-center study of the SonoCloud-9 device in recurrent glioblastoma has been launched in France and the US, there is an ongoing study with the SonoCloud-1 device in Alzheimer’s disease, and a study is planned for patients with brain metastases. The company intends to use the funds from its recent Series B to further advance the SonoCloud technology and develop its clinical pipeline. Following the fundraise the company became a public limited company (SA) and established a new board including a founders’ representative and investor representatives. CarThera develops the SonoCloud, an implantable ultrasound device designed to temporarily increase blood–brain barrier (BBB) permeability to improve delivery of therapeutic molecules to the brain. The device is implanted in the skull and activated prior to chemotherapy; two minutes of low‑intensity ultrasound opens the BBB for about six hours and increases drug concentration in the brain five to seven times, with good tolerance. The company is advancing the DOME project to support development and market launch of these implantable devices and to broaden clinical indications. The recent grant will finance a Phase 2b/3 glioblastoma trial involving roughly 200 patients at centers in Europe and the United States and will sponsor exploratory studies including one in Alzheimer’s disease. CarThera was founded in 2010 by Professor Alexandre Carpentier and is led by CEO Frederic Sottilini. It is based at the Brain and Spine Institute in Paris and maintains laboratories at the Bioparc Laënnec incubator in Lyon.

Total raised

$36M

Funding rounds

5

Latest round

Series B

Latest activity

Dec 2023