Francis Medical Inc., an early-stage medical-device company building a device to treat prostate cancer, announced Tuesday that it had taken on Coloplast as a minority investor. The Danish medical device maker, which has its U.S. headquarters in Minneapolis, put $4 million into Francis Medical.
Maple Grove-based Francis Medical was founded in 2018 as a spinout of NxThera Inc. when that company was bought by Boston Scientific Inc. in a deal worth about $400 million. The company uses ablation technology as a way to treat prostate cancer, using water vapor to surgically remove cancerous tissue. That method has potentially fewer side effects than existing prostate cancer treatments, it says.
"We’re excited to bring on Coloplast, a strong company with deep experience in urology, as another strategic investor to help us continue developing urological cancer treatments," Francis Medical CEO Mike Kujak said in a statement. Kujak was previously NxThera’s chief marketing officer and senior vice president of commercialization.
Francis Medical is currently in the middle of an early feasibility trial and is not yet commercially available. It received an investigational device exemption from the FDA late last year, an early step in the process to FDA market approval. The $4 million dollars will go towards funding the study and improving product design, a spokesperson for the company said.
Francis Medical had previously raised $18 million to fund clinical trials and hire new staff. Participants in that round included Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Arboretum Ventures, which led the round, as well as Solas BioVentures. Boston Scientific also retains a stake in the company.
The company is named after the father of Francis Medical and NxThera co-founder Michael Hoey, who died of prostate cancer. He founded NxThera to treat cancer as well, but the company later pivoted to treating enlarged prostates. Hoey is now serving as Francis Medical's chief technology officer.
