A Durham startup hopes to change the lives of patients with prostate cancer – taking incontinence out of the equation when they’re deciding their treatment options.
Levee Medical, which just closed on more than $1 million in outside capital, is moving quickly – possibly less than two years away from having its urological devices available to patients, executives said.
It’s the brainchild of Bruce Choi, its chief technology officer. Choi, a serial entrepreneur, started his career at St. Jude Medical before moving to the Triangle for a startup, InnerPulse.
InnerPulse ultimately failed, but his next firm, Sapheon, was acquired by Coviden and later Medtronic.
Levee started after old fashioned entrepreneurial tinkering became something personal.
“I had been developing different technologies to be used in various areas of the body, he said. He started looking at problems in need of solutions, and stumbled into the field of urology – particularly incontinence, a side effect of some prostate surgeries.
Then his father was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Choi saw firsthand how the issue of incontinence played into treatment. His father decided to go down the path of radiation, specifically to avoid incontinence as an outcome of surgery.
That road came with three years of treatment – including both radiation and hormone suppression. Compare that, Choi said, to surgery, where three years can be whittled down to a matter of months.
Incontinence, he discovered, weighs heavily into a patient’s decision-making. Enter in Levee, whose urological devices specifically target incontinence for prostate cancer patients.
The firm recently closed on more than $1.2 million of a planned $3 million raise, according to a securities disclosure. CEO Adam Irving said the company will close on the full fund in May, bringing its total capital haul to $5.6 million.
Irving knew Choi prior to Levee, through one of his investments, Sapheon. Choi was the vice president of operations and research development at the venous disease maker, which proved to be a winning bet for investors like Irving when it was acquired by Covidien plc in a $240 million deal in 2014.
Levee, founded in 2018, has moved quickly, Irving said.
The firm recently hired a third employee in Durham, a quality engineer. And Irving said the new capital will allow the firm to add more hires. It will also fund regulatory studies. If all goes well, the product could go to market in 18 months – but there are several studies that will be required before then.
“I think we have a chance to help a lot of people,” Irving said.
“It’s neat to be able to say I’m helping to resolve a very real problem,” Choi added. “I wish I had done it a few years earlier to help my dad.”
Levee was formerly called Luvaura and LuClaris, according to filings.