Cerulean Medical raises $500,000 |  4:17AM, Mar 14 2008

Stone Ridge Ventures has also recently committed to invest $500,000 in Cerulean Medical Pty Ltd (Cerulean). Cerulean is a medical device company focused on developing a novel vacuum system for use in negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) with applications in the homecare setting. The technology behind Cerulean was developed by 2 young doctors, Ben Readhead and Michael Winlo, who recognized a need for improved patient accessibility to this beneficial intervention. Cerulean aims to enter the lucrative negative pressure wound therapy market through the development of a more cost effective and patient friendly vacuum system, that will lead to increased use of NPWT and improved patient outcomes.

NPWT is the application of sub-atmospheric pressure to a wound in order to accelerate healing. Since its commercial release in 1997, the market has experienced double digit growth and is currently in excess of $US1B annually. However, in its current form NPWT is expensive to initiate, meaning that it is reserved for the most complex wound types and not all patients who would benefit from it can actually access the treatment. Additionally, the current devices are cumbersome, require expensive proprietary dressings and are poorly tolerated by ambulatory patients. Chronic wounds are a particular problem in the aging and therefore this market is set for further significant growth as the aging population increases.

Cerulean has developed an improved vacuum system called the xTract Vacuum System (XVS) which has increased energy efficiency, portability and patient comfort attributes allowing for improved delivery of NPWT especially in the growing homecare market. Stone Ridge’s investment will be used to define the market entry strategy, finalise manufacturing issues and map out the regulatory pathway for the device.

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