BARRX Medical closes $15 million Series D financing

Jul 14 2010

BARRX Medical, Inc. today announced the closing of a $15 million Series D financing, which was led by new investor Highland Capital Partners and joined by existing investors Delphi Ventures, Alloy Ventures, Frazier Healthcare Ventures, Sutter Hill Ventures, Greenspring Associates and others.  BARRX Medical, Inc. develops endoscopic treatment solutions for treating precancerous lesions of the esophagus as well as other chronic gastrointestinal diseases.  Around the world, BARRX's HALO system is quickly becoming a standard of care for treating Barrett's esophagus, a precancerous condition of the lining of the esophagus caused by gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).

"We welcome Highland Capital Partners as our newest investor in BARRX as well as the addition of Bijan Salehizadeh, M.D. from Highland to our Board of Directors.  We also would like to acknowledge and express our appreciation to our existing investors that have supported us through this latest round of financing," said Greg Barrett, President and CEO of BARRX Medical, Inc.  "This additional invested capital will be used to expand the utilization of our proprietary bipolar radiofrequency HALO technology into new disease states and into new international markets.  Not only does our technology continue to demonstrate clinical effectiveness for the treatment of Barrett's esophagus, but also has shown encouraging results for the treatment of another precancerous condition of the esophagus (squamous neoplasia) and bleeding disorders of the stomach and rectum.  International expansion will be focused in Latin America and Asia.  In China, for example, over 200,000 people die every year due to esophageal cancer.  We believe that our technology will be effective in eradicating early signs of this cancer and will result in a significant reduction in cancer incidence and mortality."

"Highland is pleased to work with the management team at BARRX Medical to continue to build on the many successes they have experienced over the past 7 years," said Bijan Salehizadeh, M.D., General Partner at Highland.  "We feel that the HALO technology offers significant clinical and health-economic benefits for patients around the world suffering from diseases of the esophagus that contribute to the rapid growth rate of esophageal cancer."