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Sim&Cure, leading medtech startup proving unique digital solutions to secure neurovascular treatment of cerebral aneurysm, announces a €3M funding round led by Elaia with IT Translation.
Founded in 2014 by Mathieu Sanchez (Previous Philips Healthcare R&D Engineer, PhD in biomechanics) and Vincent Costalat (MD, PhD, head of neuroradiology department at CHU Montpellier), Sim&Cure is a digital startup focused on improving neurovascular treatments of cerebral aneurysm with a proprietary software suite that has already been used to treat more than 1,500 patients in 250 hospitals.
It is also the first company to be cleared to the market concerning a patient-based simulation model for aneurysm treatment that allows prediction of the deployment of medical devices. Sim&Cure has won the prestigious iLab national context twice in 2014 and 2015, is backed by the Seed Fund IT-Translation and has established scientific and clinical collaborations with leading laboratories around the world.
The cerebral aneurysm pathology and the associated risk
The cerebral aneurysm is an arterial malformation that involves 1 in 50 people in the world. In other words, every 18 minutes, a rupture happens somewhere in the world leading to a stroke, which is the 3rd cause of death and 1st cause of dependency. The ability to correctly treat brain aneurysm is a major concern in the health sector.
The treatment of cerebral aneurysm consists of the layout of a neurovascular prosthesis – which happens to be oversized 92% of the time – to exclude the aneurysm from the blood flow. The excessive oversizing decreases the treatment efficiency and so increases the failure probability of the intervention to 25-30%. Thus, finding the perfect size for the device decreases the surgery time and cost, but also the procedural risk. In a nutshell, it’s a mega plus for the hospital and neuroradiologists.
Sim&Size and its advantages
According to the patient’s unique anatomy, Sim&Size stimulates each size and type of device to provide essential information prior to the choice of sizing. Directly integrated into the medical workflow, Sim&Size seeks to dramatically simplify the process and to benefit to:
– Patient: less risk, faster surgery
– Hospital: smaller surgery cost, faster surgery
– Neuroradiologists: improve and facilitate therapeutic planning, faster surgery
Market & commercial development
They target the neurovascular device market which will represent €3 billion in 2020. Growth in the neurovascular comes from an increasing number of potential patients for hemorrhagic stroke (2.5m/year) and an 85% prevalence of cerebral aneurysm among the strokes.
Sim&Cure has already been used to help solve 1500 patient cases across more than 25 countries. Physicians show a strong interest and adoption rate post-trial due to the high level of concordance between the numerical planification and in vivo results post-surgeries. This accuracy allows a decrease in the failure rate to 3-4%. Sim&Cure convinced big players like Medtronic, Stryker, Cerenovus (J&J) and Microvention (Terumo) but also Balt and Phenix to integrate their devices into Sim&Size in order to offer a large medical device portfolio to physicians.
Mathieu Sanchez, Sim&Cure CEO said:
During the last 2 years, we have demonstrated that Sim&Sizecoulddrastically improve patient care in Europe. Our goal for the coming years is to duplicate the European model to the US and to facilitate access to the software. We truly believe that Sim&Size could become a standard of treatment for cerebral aneurysm. We also plan to start a new R&D cycle to go further in securing the patient treatment by providing more reliable information to physicians prior to the surgery.
Samantha Jerusalmy, Partner chez Elaia adds:
Sim&Cure is acting in a fast-paced, innovative environment with already an impressively strong product rollout that is ready for strong international growth! The company is driven by a complementary and balanced team combining deep domain expertise and proven entrepreneurship skills. Matthieu carries the vision, drives the strategy, and leads the relations with manufacturer whereas Vincent provides his impressive medical expertise to help physicians identify pain points during the therapeutic planning and works closely with the product team to constantly improve the UX. Above all Sim&Cure is saving lives by securing personalized treatments for the patient. We are glad to be part of this awesome adventure and invest alongside IT Translation, our partner since 2017!
The company employs 18 people and anticipates a phase of strong growth with 10 additional recruitments in 2019.
Founded in 2002, Elaia is an independent venture capital firm, focused on the digital economy and deep tech. With over €350 million under management, Elaia invests in high potential disruptive startups from the first financing rounds to the emergence of global leaders.
Founded in 2014 and located in the vibrant medtech ecosystem in Montpellier, France, Sim&Cure is a digital startup focused on improving endovascular surgery. The first focus of the company is the treatments of the cerebral aneurysm with a proprietary software suite Sim&Size (Class IIa medical device with CE mark) that has already been used to treat more than 1,500 patients in 250 hospitals in 2018. The company employs 18 people and anticipates a phase of strong growth with 10 additional recruitments in 2019 with, in particular, the opening of a subsidiary in the US.
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