CoreValve, a medical device company developing technologies for percutaneous heart valve replacement, announced recently that it received $33 million in funding in its third institutional round of financing. Maverick Capital led the round and was joined by existing investors Apax Partners, HealthCap, and Sofinnova Partners.

“We have made significant progress in the development of our core technologies as well as in our clinical programs,” said Jacques Séguin, M.D., Ph.D., Chairman, CEO and Founder of CoreValve.

“This additional capital enables us to continue the execution of our strategy of leadership in less invasive heart valve delivery systems and the expansion of worldwide clinical trials.”

Since the early 1960’s, valve replacement surgery has extended the lives of people with failing aortic heart valves.  Unfortunately, valve replacement surgery currently requires accessing the chest and opening the heart.  Many patients are simply too ill to be considered as candidates for this type of invasive surgery.

Working with leading interventional cardiologists and heart surgeons, CoreValve has developed a proprietary system which permits aortic valve replacement on a beating heart in a procedure performed entirely in the cardiac catheterization laboratory.  This new technology completely eliminates the need for open-chest surgery and any form of cardiac support during the aortic valve replacement procedure.  These advances are expected to make heart valve replacement available to patients previously ineligible for this life-saving therapy.

Founded in 2001, privately held CoreValve - which is headquartered in Irvine, California – has developed a proprietary delivery system and tissue heart valve for percutaneous heart valve replacement. Based on a novel catheter-and-self-expanding-frame approach on a beating heart, the proprietary Co reValve ReValving System™ procedure is intended to avoid open-heart surgery. It can be performed in a cardiac “cath lab” just like angioplasty and stenting, which may result in less trauma to the patient and may offer substantial cost-savings to the healthcare system.

For more information, please visit www.corevalve.com