Category: Medical technology
Baltimore's CraniUS is trying to make life easier for patients with chronic brain diseases by limiting how often they have to go to the doctor.
The startup plans to start in-person trials of an implantable device that delivers medicine straight to the brain next year. The company's technology bypasses the blood-brain barrier, a mechanism that prevents toxins and medications from entering the brain, and its clinical trial comes amid an influx of federal funding for neuroscience research.
The startup attracted 21 investors to invest $19.4 million in CraniUS’s series A round, which closed in April 2022.
By containing the delivery system for medication entirely within a person’s body, CraniUS hopes to reduce the number of times a patient has to go to the hospital. Currently, chronic brain disease patients have to go to the hospital whenever they need medication, which is more time-consuming than the automatic treatment from CraniUS. The company will start by treating brain tumors, such as glioblastoma.
"Because the current system is external, that really limits the long-term use, since the patient can't exist in their everyday life," said co-founder Deborah Weidman. "And that's really what we're looking to change."
Michael Maglin, the former head of e-commerce at Under Armour, joined CraniUS because of the potential it has for patient treatment. He plans to eventually grow the company into a research and development hub for scientists who have great ideas but don't have the know-how to build a company.
CraniUS's funding round comes as Baltimore is increasingly becoming known for neurotech research. Johns Hopkins University, Howard University, and the National Institutes of Health have partnered on a medical technology accelerator that could spur tens of millions of dollars of investment into the sector. Baltimore is also hoping to become one of the homes for ARPA-H, a new federal agency focused on health care innovation.
