NEW YORK ─ Blood collection device company Loop Medical on Thursday announced it has raised $6.4 million in a Series A financing round led by Nümbrecht, Germany-based Sarstedt Group and New York-based Casdin Capital.
The Lausanne, Switzerland-based company intends to use the proceeds to seek US Food and Drug Administration clearance and to ramp up manufacturing for the blood collection device it is developing for home, clinical trial, and liquid biopsy testing.
The company said its technology is well positioned to enable blood collection during the COVID-19 pandemic. It intends to provide its device to US healthcare providers, labs, and patients.
Loop Medical added that the minimally invasive device enables the collection of sample volumes large enough that they are compatible with high-throughput blood analyzers while improving safety and lowering costs.
Positioned on the upper arm for a few minutes, the device can be safely administered by a clinician or patient with the push of a button, the firm said, adding that it combines skin vasodilation and micro-incision technology to enhance capillary blood flow and ensure low levels of hemolysis, or red blood cell, destruction.
In connection with the financing, Rainer Schuster, a board member of the Sarstedt Group, and Shaun Rodriguez, director of life science research at Casdin Capital, will join the Loop Medical board of directors.
"While the consumerization of healthcare continues to accelerate, convenient at home sample collection remains a critical bottleneck to widespread adoption of virtual care," Rodriguez said in a statement.
To date, Loop Medical has raised more than $10 million in investments and grants, including $3.6 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the firm said.