Acuitas Medical Secures £700,000 Co-investment from Finance Wales and Altima

Acuitas Medical Limited, a Swansea, UK-based MRI software company (formerly known as OsteoTronix), has secured a £700,000 co-investment from Finance Wales and Altima Global Special Opportunities Master Fund (Altima).

The funds will be used to further develop the company’s magnetic resonance-based Fine Texture Analysis (fTA™) technology, which enables the early diagnosis and management of cancer, organ fibrosis, and other diseases.
The £500,000 equity investment by Finance Wales, alongside £200,000 further investment from Altima, will enable Acuitas Medical to undertake a number of clinical studies to demonstrate the capabilities of its fTA technology for a range of diagnostic and therapy management applications. 
fTA allows for characterisation of biostructures substantially smaller than 1mm. It can be installed on any MR scanner without modification or additional hardware and provides diagnostic results in less than five minutes.
The co-investment follows two earlier funding rounds in which Acuitas Medical raised in excess of £750,000, including £500,000 from Altima. The company was also previously awarded a £490,000 Industrial Research grant by the Welsh Assembly Government through its Single Investment Fund.
Acuitas Medical also appointed a UK research scientist and entrepreneur, Professor Sir Michael Brady, as Non-Executive Director to the board.

Commenting on the funding, John P. Heinrich, Ph.D., chairman and CEO of Acuitas Medical, was quoted as saying: “The investment by Finance Wales and additional investment from Altima will enable us to further develop the fTA™ software and evaluate clinical applications including angiogenesis (the network of blood vessels that supports tumour growth), organ fibrosis, breast cancer, bone diseases, and other pathologies characterised by fine structural changes.
“Ultimately we expect to improve MR utilisation and work flow by rapidly providing superior diagnostic information”, he added.

FinSMEs

09/08/2010

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