Valentx raises funds to develop less-invasive treatment for morbid obesity

Sep 8 2009

ValenTx, Inc., announced today the closing of a $22 million Series B Preferred Stock financing. The round was led by SV Life Sciences and joined by Covidien Ventures, as well as all the Company’s existing venture capital investors: Sapient Capital, EDF Ventures, Kaiser Permanente Ventures, Affinity Capital Partners, and TGap Ventures.

“This financing is an important corporate milestone for ValenTx in its development of a proprietary less-invasive treatment for morbid obesity and the diseases, like diabetes, associated with morbid obesity," said Mitchell Dann, Founder and Principal of Sapient Capital and Chairman of ValenTx's Board of Directors. “The additional capital resources from our new and existing partners position the company for clinical and regulatory development towards commercialization.”

Paul LaViolette, Venture Partner at SV Life Sciences and most recently Chief Operation Officer at Boston Scientific Corporation, will join the Board of ValenTx. "ValenTx holds the promise of a unique and powerful solution to address the national health issue of obesity,” added LaViolette. “We look forward to working with the ValenTx team to realize this promise."

James Wright, President of ValenTx commented, “Morbid obesity and the co-morbidities it causes, like diabetes, is a significant unmet medical need. This point is highlighted by the recent CDC study stating that obesity is responsible for over 9% of all medical spending in this country. While we are still early in our development, the encouraging results from clinical study of our technology have been presented at four major scientific meetings. With this financing we will continue our Company’s development with the goal of offering a safe and effective treatment option for morbid obesity to help address the challenge this problem presents to our global community.”