Aesthetic device maker Recros Medica Inc. in San Diego plans to strengthen clinical and commercial efforts with a recently closed $9 million financing, and it’s bringing it all to Orange County.
Recros develops Rotational Fractional Resection, used to treat loose skin and wrinkles by removing excess skin and fat.
“All the leadership will be based in Orange County,” said Chief Executive Thomas Albright, who joined the company in September.
He said most of the company’s leadership and investors were already based here.
The medical aesthetics veteran got his start at Allergan PLC, where he oversaw global Botox marketing efforts from 2000 to 2008. Before that, he was chief executive of Andrew Technologies LLC starting in 2011, and earlier served as president of the topical aesthetics division of Israeli nonsurgical device maker Syneron.
Albright said San Diego is the company’s in-name-only headquarters because it’s home to co-founder David Hale. “Orange County will be the actual administrative headquarters. [Our] research facility is in the Bay Area.”
Board Chairman Hale is a serial entrepreneur who’s been involved in founding and developing several biotechnology and aesthetic product companies. He serves as chairman for companies that include investment firm Hale BioPharma Ventures LLC in Encintas.
The other co-founders are Chief Scientist Edward Knowlton and board member Cathy McCarthy. Knowlton invented the device, and McCarthy is president and chief executive of consulting firm Cross Tack Inc. in Corona del Mar.
Proceeds of the recently closed financing will support product development and clinical trials. The company also plans to add 20 employees toward the latter half of the year. Local hires include administrative, marketing and customer support personnel.
Recros has also expanded its board by two members. Christoph Westphal is co-founder and partner of healthcare venture firm Longwood Fund in Boston, and Mark Kerslake, is a principal of real estate development and investment company Province Group in Newport Beach.
Newport Beach-based plastic surgeon Milind Ambe played a key role in raising the most recent round, according to Albright. Ambe have been chairman of the scientific advisory board as well as a board member of Recros for over two years.
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Recros’ device is a hand-held tool sporting nine rotating cutting tubes with an adjustable depth guide. It’s designed to make small circular incisions with precise depths. The incisions should heal with little or no visible scarring, according to the company.
The device falls into the plastic and cosmetic surgery category, which is highly lucrative because procedures are predominately paid by patients. Insurers may pay for noncosmetic reconstructive surgeries. Americans spent more than $16 billion on cosmetic plastic surgeries and other minimally invasive procedures in 2016, according to a report by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.
It makes sense that plastic surgeons and dermatologists are among Recros investors, along with high-net-worth angels.
Albright said the recent round exceeded its initial $5 million target. It included reinvestment by major investors and about 20 new investors, as well as institutional money from Longwood.
Clinical
Albright said that while aesthetic devices like Recros’ don’t require Food and Drug Administration approval to market, “We are going to submit our data for an indication with the FDA” for extra cachet for marketing purposes.
He said the particular indication will be announced later.
Recros was founded in 2014. Knowlton, the product inventor and a board-certified plastic surgeon, earlier invented Thermage, an FDA-approved cosmetic laser used for skin tightening and wrinkle reduction.
