• TransMedics

  Participated · Series C · Nov 2024

  TransMedics, founded in 1998, develops the Organ Care System, an investigational organ transport device designed to maintain organs in a warm, functioning state outside the body. The system aims to optimize organ health during transport, increase the number of usable donor organs, and enable living organ transplant. TransMedics recently initiated the European PROTECT trial to evaluate the Organ Care System for heart transplants. The company plans to extend the platform to other organs, including lung, liver and kidneys, and to commercialize the device. It is privately held and raised $29.75 million in Series C financing to accelerate growth, continue the PROTECT trial, and initiate new studies in Europe and the U.S. Company leadership indicated a target for European market approval early in 2007. TransMedics Group is a medical technology company built to address the need for more and better donor organs by developing portable extracorporeal warm perfusion and organ assessment technologies. The company’s Organ Care System (OCS) program focuses on preserving organ quality and assessing viability prior to transplant to potentially increase donor-organ utilization for end-stage heart, lung, and liver failure. TransMedics plans to use incremental growth capital to accelerate its commercial momentum, grow transplant volume, and improve clinical outcomes. The company said the new financing is non-dilutive and will provide financial flexibility as it scales the business. TransMedics was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Andover, Massachusetts. The company intends to use the capital to retire existing debt and support continued market expansion. TransMedics has developed the Organ Care System (OCS), a portable technology and multi-organ platform designed to maintain donor organs in a near-physiologic state outside the body to improve transplant outcomes and expand the pool of transplantable organs. The company’s OCS Heart and OCS Lung systems are CE Marked and are used by transplant centers in Europe, Australia and Canada. The OCS Heart, Lung and Liver systems are in clinical trials in the United States. TransMedics is led by Dr. Waleed Hassanein, President and CEO. The company recently closed a $51.2M growth equity financing. TransMedics develops a portable warm blood perfusion system—referred to in coverage as an Organ Care System—that keeps donor organs functioning outside the body instead of on ice. The device is positioned as a “living organ transplant” solution intended to improve organ condition prior to transplant surgery. Reported benefits include the ability to resuscitate hearts from donors after circulatory death and to identify pathologically abnormal hearts that might be missed with cold static storage. A study and accompanying editorial in The Lancet found short-term outcomes comparable to cold storage but noted the system could reveal abnormalities and that more study is needed. The privately held Boston company was launched in 1998 and has raised well over $100 million to date, leaving it well-capitalized. CEO Waleed Hassanein has publicly criticized cooler-based transport and promoted the system as a better method for organ preservation and transport. TransMedics is an Andover, Massachusetts–based medical technology company focused on extending the life-saving benefits of organ transplantation. Led by President and CEO Dr. Waleed Hassanein, the company develops the Organ Care System (OCS™) Heart and Lung devices. The OCS devices are portable preservation technologies that maintain donor organs in a near-physiologic and functioning condition from donor to transplant recipient. TransMedics closed a $36M financing to support its programs. The company intends to use the funding to complete its heart and lung FDA pivotal trials and expand global commercial activities. In conjunction with the financing, representatives from the lead investor joined TransMedics’ Board of Directors.

• ASLAN Pharmaceuticals

  Participated · Series C · Dec 2015

  ASLAN Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company developing ASLAN003 for autoimmune gastrointestinal and skin diseases and certain skin conditions. The company has closed a secured loan facility with K2 HealthVentures providing up to $45 million of secured debt financing. The facility includes a $20 million initial term loan funded at closing and a further $25 million subject to certain terms and conditions. ASLAN intends to use the proceeds to advance the clinical development of ASLAN003 and for general corporate purposes. The company expects to initiate a Phase 2 clinical trial of ASLAN003 in inflammatory bowel disease in early 2022. The loan provides near-term funding to support those planned clinical activities. ASLAN Pharmaceuticals is a biotech focused on developing immunotherapies and targeted agents for tumour types highly prevalent in Asia. Its pipeline comprises four novel therapeutic agents, with lead drug varlitinib currently in phase 2 trials for cholangiocarcinoma, gastric cancer and breast cancer. Proceeds from the new financing will be used to support clinical development of the pipeline. The company said the financing bolsters its financial position and will accelerate progress across its clinical programme. ASLAN has raised over US$100 million to date, including a US$43 million Series C in December 2015 led by Accuron (a Temasek subsidiary). The announcement was released from Singapore and the company is pursuing growth in Taiwan and the region. Aslan Pharmaceuticals is a Singapore-based biotech focused on developing immunotherapies and targeted agents for tumor types prevalent in Asia. The company maintains a proprietary pipeline of four development-stage candidates addressing multiple indications including gastric and breast cancers and inflammatory diseases. Its most advanced programs are in phase 2: ASLAN001, a pan-HER inhibitor with phase 2 data in gastric cancer and trials in cholangiocarcinoma, breast cancer and gastric cancer; and ASLAN002, which targets RON, an immune checkpoint target, and cMET. Aslan also operates a global medical device and diagnostics division, Accuron MedTech, led by Abel Ang. The company is led by CEO Dr. Carl Firth and plans to use recent proceeds to accelerate clinical development of ASLAN001, which received Orphan Drug Designation in cholangiocarcinoma from the US FDA.

• Trellis Bioscience

  Participated · Equity · Feb 2007

  Trellis Bioscience uses a proprietary technology to clone human antibodies from white blood cells and develops native human monoclonal antibodies to address difficult infectious diseases. Its lead program, calpurbatug (TRL1068), is an investigational monoclonal antibody aimed at disrupting biofilms and is in a Phase 2 trial for chronic prosthetic joint infections. The company also has a pipeline of antiviral antibodies, one of which is in a clinical trial. Trellis highlights that human antibodies have a lower toxicity-related failure rate than other drug classes and that its discovery approach isolates antibodies from recovered patients. The company is based in Redwood City, CA. To date Trellis has raised approximately $35 million in equity, complemented by a comparable amount of non-dilutive grant funding from NIAID and CARB-X.

No current team members are available.