TherOx Inc., an Irvine-based medical device maker, said last week it raised $30 million in financing.
The money will help pay for a clinical study of its therapeutic oxygen system used to help treat heart conditions, the company said.
TherOx is privately held. Its funding is among the larger venture investments in Orange County companies this year.
The device maker has raised more than $60 million since it was founded more than a decade ago.
New TherOx investors in the latest funding round were New Science Ventures LLC, a New York-based firm that led the funding, New York’s Aperture Venture Partners LLC and Salt Lake City’s Wasatch Advisors Inc.
Previous investors Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, which has offices in San Francisco and Menlo Park, and Integral Capital Partners, with offices in Menlo Park and Baltimore, also kicked in funds.
The company is developing technology that combines oxygen and water to create “aqueous oxygen.” TherOx also is working on a minimally invasive device to send the aqueous oxygen to the heart area.
The mixture minimizes the damage to the heart muscle following a heart attack, the company said. Injecting the solution is designed to follow surgery and stent device treatment after a heart attack.
TherOx sees its technology eventually being used to treat early conditions that lead to congestive heart failure, said Rob Weigle, vice president, marketing and sales.
TherOx plans to use the latest investment to conduct the final phase of a study, request premarket approval from the Food and Drug Administration and build its manufacturing operations, said Chief Executive Kevin Larkin.
Some 325 patients will be enrolled in the trial’s final phase, which is expected to be finished next May, Weigle said.
The company hopes to sell its oxygen mixture and the delivery device in early 2007.
Weigle said the potential market includes some 1.3 million Americans annually who have heart attacks.
TherOx initially plans to market its device to interventional cardiologists. Later, it could target doctors treating cancer, wounds, skin care issues and organ preservation, among others.
The company received regulatory approval in Europe three years ago. It’s now commercializing the oxygen device, called DownStream, overseas.
Former chief executive Paul Zalesky, who recently stepped down from the company’s board, and Dr. J. Richard Spears, a Detroit cardiologist, founded TherOx in 1994.
Weigle said he didn’t know of another company that produces devices that elevate oxygen the way TherOx does. He said other approaches to reduce damage from a heart attack haven’t worked, including drugs and other types of medical devices.
TherOx doesn’t expect to go after more funding until it brings the device to market, Weigle said. The company plans to go after more funding, or possibly pursue a public offering, at that time.
