Dublin-based FIRE1 secures €115M to help patients suffering from chronic diseases

On Tuesday, Dublin-based FIRE1, a connected medical device solutions company, announced that it has secured $120M (approximately €115M) in financing led by Polaris Partners and Elevage Medical Technologies.

New investors, including Longitude Capital, and Sands Capital also participated along with the existing investors.

The funding will enable the Irish company to complete a pivotal clinical trial for its Norm heart failure management solution.

In addition to funding, the company received FDA Breakthrough Device Designation and acceptance into the Total Product Lifecycle Advisory Program (TAP).

FIRE1: Improving patients’ quality of life

Led by Conor Hanley, FIRE1 is dedicated to improving the outcomes for people with chronic diseases. The company’s mission is to empower millions of people with heart failure to regain their normal lives.

Last year, the company announced that the first Irish patient was successfully implanted with the FIRE1 System for remote heart failure monitoring.

The implantation took place at University Hospital Galway during the FUTURE-HF study, which is testing the FIRE1 System in heart failure patients.

The goal of the study is to see how well FIRE1 can improve the health of people with heart failure.

The company aims to transform heart failure management by enabling patients to monitor and control their fluid volume themselves with a consumer-friendly device at home, similar to how continuous glucose monitoring transformed diabetes care.

Fluid overload is a classic clinical feature of heart failure, which affects more than six million people in the U.S. and is the most common cause of hospitalisation for those aged 65 and over.

Today’s technologies do not directly measure fluid volume where it is primarily stored (the IVC), resulting in lagging measurements that do not identify fluid overload early enough to manage outside of the hospital.

The FIRE1 system is a small, minimally invasive implantable sensor designed to accurately identify fluid build-up earlier, when it can be more easily managed by the patient and their physician without a hospital visit.

The company is backed by several investors, including Andera Partners, Gilde Healthcare, Gimv, the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, Lightstone Ventures, Medtronic, New Enterprise Associates, Novo Holdings and Seventure