BioCircuit Technologies raises $9M to bring Nerve Tape to market – Washington Business Journal – The Business Journals
BioCircuit Technologies, which was spun off from technology licensed through Virginia Commonwealth University, has raised $9 million in debt financing and plans to bring a health care technology product to market in 2023.
A few years ago, Dr. Jonathan Isaacs, a professor at VCU Medical Center, began exploring new ways to repair nerve damage. The current method uses sutures, but Issacs thought wrapping the nerve would be better. He drew out a design on a piece of paper and patented the idea through VCU. A mutual friend connected Issacs with Atlanta’s Axion Biosystems about developing a working prototype.
“There is no question that this is [Issacs’] idea,” said Dawson Reimer, head of business and commercial development at BioCircuit Technologies. “He was experimenting on his own with some rudimentary designs about doing sutureless nerve damage repair. …The engineers at Axion thought they might be able to help him achieve his idea.”
The company licensed the technology from VCU in 2016 and began working on a prototype. Over the next several years, Issacs and the engineers perfected the product and called it Nerve Tape. In 2019, Axion spun off BioCircuit Technologies to focus on bringing Nerve Tape to market.
“The company had gotten very excited about it because as we started making these refined prototypes, they saw how well it worked,” Issacs said.
Last summer, Nerve Tape was granted Section 510(k) clearance from the Food and Drug Administration to bring the product to market without clinical trials. The FDA supported BioCircuit Technologies’ argument that Nerve Tape was similar enough to products already on the market and no clinical trials were needed.
“Right now, the plan is to do a limited controlled release in late 2023,” Reimer said. “We want to get experience with it and work with it. We will work with a couple of large institutions and thought leaders in the field to do the first clinical patients.”
Reimer said the company has run into challenges with manufacturing. It had only manufactured enough of the product to get FDA approval, and the company that did the manufacturing is not able to produce more. BioCircuit Technologies is looking for another manufacturing company so it can bring the product to market.
“It has taken a little bit of time to get set up with a new manufacturer,” Reimer said.
The company will have to get approval from the FDA to work with the new manufacturing company, and Reimer does not expect that to be completed until sometime in 2023.
“We expect broad marketing and broad availability in 2024,” Reimer said.
Funds from the current round will be used to bring Nerve Tape to market as well as conduct research on a spinal cord product. Mike Masters of Masters Capital, the GRA Venture Fund and Alsora Capital were part of the funding round, alongside existing shareholders.
Reimer said Nerve Tape will make surgical repair of nerve damage easier for doctors. He added that it might give more doctors the ability to do nerve repair surgery.
“Right now, there are a small number of doctors who can do nerve repair, because it requires microsurgery,” Reimer said. “You have to get a microscope or be under magnification.”
Issacs said it is “surreal” that he and the team have gotten this far. He still has the piece of paper where he drew the initial sketches of the design for Nerve Tape.
“We really think it’s going to change the way people do their repairs and make it so more people, more surgeons with less experience can do an equally good repair as an experienced surgeon,” Issacs said.
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