NIH funds Urovalve to advance development of Surinate Bladder Management System

Oct 14 2009

Urovalve, a medical device company focused on creating products for urinary flow and control, announced today that it has received $400,000 in new funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to advance development of its Surinate® Bladder Management System—designed to improve the quality of life of men who suffer from acute or chronic urinary retention, an inability to empty the bladder.

The grant is the third from NIH to Urovalve, bringing the Company’s total NIH funding to $1,240,000. To date, Urovalve has now raised $4.2 million from private investors and other sources, including NIH and the New Jersey Commission of Science and Technology (NJCST).

“This new funding further validates our novel technology and clinical development strategy,” said Harvey D. Homan, Ph.D., President and CEO of Urovalve. “There is a dire need in healthcare for our Surinate® system. Today, men who have a urinary retention condition must rely on a 50-year-old product called the Foley catheter, or they must endure intermittent catheterization four to six times a day. On the other hand, Surinate^® is designed so that the patient is no longer coupled to a urine-collection bag on his leg, so no one has to know that the patient has a urinary retention condition.

“Equally important,” added Dr. Homan, “is the fact that Surinate^® is designed with a magnetized valve inside the catheter that allows the bladder to fill and then empty only on command of the patient. In addition, the patient uses an external magnet to open the valve in the Surinate^® catheter to drain the bladder only when he needs to. Plus, the Surinate® valved catheter is designed to remain in the patient for up to 28 days. In short, with Surinate® the patient himself has total control over his bladder-emptying process.

“We are looking forward to announcing commencement of a pilot study of the beta version of our Surinate^® system before year-end,” said Dr. Homan.