eNeura Inc., a Baltimore-based medical technology company, plans to expand the commercial marketing of its migraine treatment device with the help of a $17 million investment round led by Camden Partners Nexus, a Baltimore-based private equity firm.
Proceeds of the financing will be used to give more patients access to the company’s sTMS mini neuromodulation device, which treats and prevents migraines by sending magnetic pulses into the brain, eNeura said Tuesday.
Besides Camden Partners, co-founded by former mayoral candidate David L. Warnock, other local investors include the Abell Foundation, entrepreneur David Oros, Marc Blum and the Fischell family, who also founded the company.
Migraine patients in the past have had to depend on combinations of pharmaceutical drugs, all of which have possible side effects, said David K. Rosen, eNeura’s president and CEO.
“This is an option that the doctor can recommend for the treatment and prevention of migraines,” Rosen said. “And it’s a great solution for people who can’t take medications, for people who have side effects from medication and people who are not candidates for medication because they are pregnant and nursing.”
The company leases the device to patients on a trial basis for three months for $450. The rate is a total $750 to continue another three months. The device also can be rented on an annual basis.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared sTMS for migraine treatment in mid-2017. eNeura has been working with headache specialists and neurologists at headache centers across the United States since getting FDA approval. It already is being recommended by some doctors in the Baltimore-Washington region.
Jacob Vogelstein, managing partner at Camden Partners Nexus Fund, called the neuromodulation used in eNeura’s device the next great advancement in migraine treatment and prevention.
The Nexus Fund, which launched in December, aims to invest in breakthrough firms, particularly in Baltimore, that develop drugs, devices, diagnostics and data analytics through federally funded research and development grants.
“This is a perfect fit into our model,” said George C. Petrocheilos, a partner with Camden Partners.
eNeura got an earlier infusion of $15 million in 2015 from Texas medical device company Orthofix International, which ultimately decided not to exercise an option it had to buy eNeura and the device.
