Breast cancer device maker Cianna Medical Inc. has spent much of the past year bulking up its sales staff after raising almost $11 million in venture capital.
The Aliso Viejo-based company is focusing on getting more customers for its Savi device, which provides targeted radiation in a procedure known as brachytherapy to women who have had breast tumors removed.
Cianna has hired three account managers, a physicist, a marketing person and five staffers who handle support for surgeons, said Jill Anderson, chief executive.
Of Cianna’s 40 workers, 25 are in sales and marketing, Anderson said. She said she was looking for the “right kind of people who share the same level of passion and values, particularly for women’s health.”
Cianna sells Savi to breast surgeons, general surgeons, radiation oncologists and medical physicists who create treatment plans.
“Each one of these specialties (is) involved in critical care for women with breast cancer,” Anderson said.
Savi received Food and Drug Administration approval in 2006, when Cianna still was part of BioLucent Inc., also of Aliso Viejo.
Hologic Inc., a Massachusetts-based device maker that competes with Cianna, bought BioLucent in 2007 for $70 million. Cianna was spun off from BioLucent, which makes a pad used to cut down mammography discomfort.
Privately held Cianna started selling Savi in 2008.
Since its inception as a standalone company, Cianna has raised more than $19 million.
In the latest round, Cianna raised $10.8 million from Emergent Medical Partners of Portola Valley, two San Francisco-based investors—Saints Capital and Fog City Fund—and Mitsubishi International Corp.
Anderson said she expected the latest funding to hold out until the company reaches profitability in a year or two.
Cianna has seen about 35% revenue growth each quarter and is expecting slightly less than $10 million in revenue for the year. Anderson declined to give a revenue projection for 2010.
The overall market for cancer brachytherapy devices is expected to reach $1.6 billion by 2015, according to Global Industry Analysts Inc. Brachytherapy often is used to treat prostate and other cancers.
Research
The company hasn’t ruled out funneling some or raising more venture capital for research and development, which could delay its profitability.
Cianna is touting Savi as a medical device that doctors can use to treat a wider range of breast cancer patients, including women with smaller breasts and those with breast implants.
The designs of some competing devices, including Hologic’s MammoSite and Contura from Irvine’s SenoRx Inc., can’t be used in some women who’ve had breast cancer surgeries.
Some of its competitors’ devices are better known by doctors, which is why Cianna has focused on adding salespeople, according to Brian Driscoll, its marketing director.
It could also explain why the company has yet to be acquired by one of those competitors or by someone looking for an entry into the market.
Cianna plans to continue growing as an independent company, although Anderson said it would continue to have “confidential discussions” with potential strategic buyers.
A Hologic spokesman declined to comment about whether it was interested in buying Cianna. The same year it bought BioLucent, Hologic also bought Cytyc Corp., creator of MammoSite, which had been on the market since 2002.
SenoRx didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Cianna sells Savi only in the U.S., although Anderson said it’s looking “very seriously” at three Asian markets. She also said European regulatory clearance is pending.
