Calypso Medical raises funds for commercial expansion

Sep 18 2009

Calypso Medical Technologies, Inc., a developer of real-time localization technology used for the precise tracking of tumor targets, today announced the completion of a $50 million round of venture capital financing, led by Skyline Ventures and Frazier Healthcare Ventures. Bay City Capital and InterWest Partners were also major investors in the financing. Proceeds from this financing will be used to support the Company’s commercial expansion, both domestically and internationally, as well as the development of products to support new clinical indications and the continued integration of the Calypso^® System with existing linear accelerators and other radiation therapy technologies.

The Company’s platform technology, also known as GPS for the Body^®, utilizes miniature implanted Beacon^® transponders to provide precise, continuous information on the location of the tumor during external beam radiation therapy. Any movement by the patient, including internal movement of the tumor, may cause the radiation to miss its intended target and hit adjacent healthy tissue. In contrast to other tumor targeting solutions, the Calypso System provides continuous tumor position information, objectively and without ionizing radiation, thereby enabling an increase in the radiation delivered to the tumor while reducing radiation misapplied to normal tissue.

“Making sure that a tumor is located where the linear accelerator assumes it to be is critical in external beam radiation therapy,” said John Freund, managing director of Skyline Ventures. “We believe that Calypso’s proprietary GPS for the Body technology represents a fundamental advance in radiation therapy. Calypso allows radiation oncologists to increase the dose delivered to the tumor while decreasing unwanted side effects, for a fraction of the cost of a new linear accelerator.”

“This financing validates the investment community’s continued confidence in the vision of the company, the team, the unique benefits of our product platform and its potential in the marketplace,” said Eric Meier, president and chief executive officer of Calypso Medical. “We are pleased to welcome both Skyline Ventures and InterWest Partners as our newest investors. With the completion of this financing, we are well capitalized and positioned to further expand the presence of our product platform to leading cancer centers around the globe.”

“We believe the Calypso System will grow in importance as additional clinical data about its impact emerges and as the company develops capabilities to address a growing number of tumor types over the next several years,” added Glenn Reicin, managing director of Skyline. “Our prediction is that it will become a standard of care that clinicians and patients insist upon for many tumor types.”

“As the founding investor in Calypso Medical, Frazier Healthcare Ventures is very pleased to welcome firms of the quality of Skyline Ventures and InterWest Partners to the company’s already impressive group of investors,” said Trevor Moody, general partner at Frazier. “This new syndicate further validates the significant opportunities ahead for Calypso.”

Also participating in this financing round were existing investors Versant Ventures, BB Biotech, Arnerich Massena & Associates, Apothecary Capital, RiverVest Ventures, Merlin Nexus, Early Bird Ventures, Glenview Capital Management, Integra Ventures, AEOW, Kaiser Permanente Ventures, Mosaix Ventures, SB Life Science Ventures, Mitsui & Co. Venture Partners and Rockport Ventures.

http://www.calypsomedical.com.