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Utah Life Sciences News & Events

Alucent Biomedical Announces $35 Million Series B Financing

October 2, 2020

Alucent Biomedical, a Salt Lake-City based company and BioUtah member, founded to transform the way vascular disease is treated, yesterday announced the close of a $35 million Series B financing round. The funding will support two clinical trials to evaluate Alucent’s novel treatment for peripheral artery disease (PAD) of the lower extremities.

PAD is a painful and debilitating disease that affects over 200 million worldwide.

“We’re excited for Alucent about this new round of funding,” said Kelvyn Cullimore, president and CEO of BioUtah. “It not only advances Alucent’s innovative technology that gives patients new hope, but it’s another feather in the cap of Utah’s dynamic life sciences hub.”

The financing round was led by a large multinational strategic investor and joined by another new investor, Fresenius Medical Care Ventures. “Alucent Biomedical is a welcome addition to our portfolio,” said Al Wiegman, head of Fresenius Medical Care Ventures. “The company’s first-rate management team is developing a revolutionary technology that has the potential to dramatically improve treatment for the millions of people who suffer from PAD. We believe AlucentNVS stands to completely reshape how physicians think about treating vascular conditions.”

Alucent was founded by Avera Research Institute, an arm of Avera Health, which also contributed to the financing. To date, Alucent has raised approximately $60 million, including the Series B funding.

Alucent develops and market products using Natural Vascular Scaffolding (AlucentNVS) technology. AlucentNVS is a first-of-a-kind combination drug-device therapy designed to assist the body in naturally opening and maintaining arterial patency, resulting in improved blood flow, limb preservation, and a better quality of life for patients.

Pre-clinical testing of AlucentNVS in animal studies has shown acute and long-term safety and patency without the pro-inflammatory and mechanical risks of placing a rigid foreign implant into the blood vessel.