Olathe-based Metactive lands $1.5M, two medical patents

Olathe-based medical device company Metactive released a pair of positive announcements for the firm.

Dr. Nick Franano

In addition to being awarded two patents, the firm closed on a $1.5 million Series A funding round — bringing its total raised to over $9 million. The round was co-led by the Mid-America Angels and an unnamed investor. Previously, the firm has engaged in partnerships with the Kansas Bioscience Authority and the National Institutes of Health.

Metactive Medical focuses on the creation of embolization devices that fights cancer. It’s latest, the Blockstent Microcatheter for embolization of peripheral arteries and veins and the Ballstent Microcatheter for embolization of cerebral aneurysms, are now patented.

CEO Nick Franano said that the issuance of these patents gives Metactive exclusive rights in the U.S. and international market. He added that the capital will help accelerate the firm.

“This new funding provides Metactive with the resources to continue the development and testing of its novel embolization devices,” Franano said in a release. “Our preclinical study results show that both devices routinely provide immediate, complete, and durable occlusion, something that market leading coils, flow diverting stents, and mesh vascular plugs can’t deliver. We look forward to a time when standing in the interventional suite wearing heavy lead protective garments, placing multiple devices, and performing serial angiography waiting for a vessel to occlude will no longer be required to complete an embolization procedure.”

Embolization is a treatment that blocks the flow of blood in specific segments of arteries and veins, enabling doctors to divert blood away from cancerous tumors and other abnormal tissues. More than 150,000 peripheral vascular embolization procedures are performed each year around the world using coils and vascular plugs, which can be difficult to use and often result in incomplete treatment.

Franano is also the CEO of Flow Forward Medical, which recently raised $1 million for its vascular health device.