Plymouth medical device company HistoSonics raises $100M

HistoSonics, a Plymouth-based medical technology company, secured $100 million more in funding to support the launch of its flagship machine. The company is developing a robotics system that uses focused acoustic energy to kill cancer cells.

The funding includes $85 million in a Series D round from investors that include the investment arm of Johnson & Johnson and a $15 million expansion of its current debt facility with Signature Bank.

Since forming in 2009, the company's leaders have raised more than $200 million to develop Edison, a non-invasive, sonic beam therapy device that uses a combination of imaging and sensing technology to liquefy and destroy cancer cells.

The funding includes $54 million in a 2019 Series C round of funding, and a Series C-1 round in 2020 for $40 million.

Existing investors include California-based proton-beam therapy maker Varian Medical Systems; Dr. Fred Moll, founder of the world's largest medical-robot company, Intuitive Surgical; Madison, Wis.-based Venture Investors; and the State of Wisconsin Investment Board.

HistoSonics' current funding round reflects a strong year for medical and bioscience companies in Minnesota, which collectively raised nearly $775 million in capital in the first six months of 2022, according to Medical Alley, an organization that supports the health care industry in Minnesota and other areas of the Upper Midwest.

The Series D round for HistoSonics will be applied to the commercial launch of the device, more clinical trials and expanding the uses of Edison, according to a news release. Edison is currently intended only for human liver tissue.

Per HistoSonics, the number of patients in the U.S. who have primary liver tumors has increased 43% over the last 16 years. The number of patients with primary liver tumors is expected to grow another 40% by 2030.

HistoSonics recently submitted safety and efficacy data from its liver cancer treatment clinical trials to the Food and Drug Administration and expects market authorization in 2023. In October 2021, the FDA granted the company breakthrough device designation for its new therapy device.

"These financings are an extraordinary vote of confidence in our team, as well as the novel platform and solution we have developed to transform experiences for patients and physicians who deal with the many challenges associated with significant disease, starting in the liver," HistoSonics chief executive Mike Blue said in a statement.

The company's device is based on the science of histotripsy, which was developed at the University of Michigan as an alternative to surgical procedures. HistoSonics also has offices in Ann Arbor, Mich., and has more than 65 employees, according to investment-tracking platform Pitchbook.