Academic Founder(s):
Professor Ivan Keogh, Professor Peter Dockery, Dr Brian Shields, Mr. David Townley, Dr. Martin O'Halloran
Neurent Medical is developing a new-to-world, medical device led procedure to treat patients with rhinitis, the fifth most common chronic disease in the US and the most common chronic disease in children. Rhinitis is an inflammatory disease of the nose leading to congestion and severe runny nose, which effects up to 40% of the population. Treatments until now have included long term medication or surgery.
The founders of Neurent Medical, having identified an unmet clinical need in treating rhinitis, developed new technology with support of the Enterprise Ireland Commercialisation Fund. This, in turn, has led to the development of a single-use device that delivers targeted energy to impact the neural function, interrupting the inflammatory cascade , with the aim of delivering long term relief to patients. The procedure will be performed with local anaesthetic only, removing huge unnecessary spend for the healthcare system.
Neurent Medical spun out of NUI Galway in 2018 with the company licensing patent applications from the university together with know-how relating to the technology. In May 2018 the company announced that it had raised €9.3m in a Series A financing. A further €2.8m of grant aid, in collaboration with NUI Galway, from the Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund was announced by Enterprise Ireland in 2019. Early steps have been taken by the Neurent Medical leadership team in securing a further €20m Series B investment in 2020, with strong interest in participation being expressed by leading US and European VC funds and some strategic corporations with ENT divisions. Neurent Medical is currently entering its first clinical trial. It is focused on the large US market and is planning regulatory clearance from the US FDA in mid 2020 for immediate commercialisation of the product.
The TTO at NUI Galway has supported the project through from idea conception, invention disclosure, funding application, project implementation, IP management and patent protection, and through company formation and licensing the technology from the university. Neurent Medical continues to work closely with NUI Galway and has funded a research programme with the CÚRAM research centre in Galway.
Underpinning funding sources include:
Enterprise Ireland Bioinnovate Programme
Enterprise Ireland Commercialisation Fund