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BBJ: UMB-Born Medical Device Startup Raises $2.35 Million, Moves Toward FDA Clearance

Tuesday, July 24, 2018

Baltimore startup CoapTech has raised $2.35 million in seed funding, as the company works to get its new medical device cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Major funders involved in the round included the National Institutes of Health, UM Ventures, Maryland Technology Development Corp. and the Maryland Industrial Partnerships program, as well as local angel investors. CoapTech co-founder Howard Carolan said the round will be used to support clinical testing and help push the company's medical device toward FDA clearance, which it hopes to achieve in the the first quarter of 2019.

CoapTech was born out of the University of Maryland, Baltimore's UM Ventures initiative. It is based around technology developed by Dr. Steven Tropello of the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Tropello created a new feeding tube placement technique designed to be less invasive and less expensive than traditional methods.

The company's PUMA (point-of-care ultrasound magnet aligned) technology allows clinicians to position and place a patient's feeding tube using magnets, with clear visualization of paths inside the body. It provides an alternative to a typical feeding tube placement procedure, which may require specialists, greater levels of sedation and use of an operating room. The European Patent Office granted a patent for the technology in June 2018. A U.S. patent is pending.

Click here to read the rest of the story via Baltimore Business Journal