Galway medtech raises €2.2m as it charts course for US launch

SymPhysis Medical, a Galway medical technology firm focused on palliative care for late-stage cancer patients, has raised a further €2.2 million in funding as it prepares to secure US regulatory clearance for its Releaze device.
The product is a drainage device to help treat malignant pleural effusion or “fluid in the chest”, a common complication associated with advanced cancers. The condition affects half of end-of-life cancer patients, causing pain and shortness of breath and requires frequent hospital visits. Releaze, which is being manufactured in Letterkenny, Co Donegal, by medical device developer Phillips Medsize, is less invasive than current treatments and can be managed at home.
SymPhysis has now secured an additional €2.2 million in funding comprising follow-on investments from Irrus Investments, the MedTech Syndicate and Boole Investments, as well as Enterprise Ireland. It follows two successful fundraisings by the company of €1.9 million in 2022 and €1.5 million in December 2023.
The funding will allow the company to carry out preclinical studies required by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) in the US, out of which the company is aiming to receive regulatory clearance by the end of 2025. In total SymPhysis wants to raise €6.5 million in 2024 to help it carry out usability studies in Britain and the US, where the company has relationships with the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota and the MD Anderson Cancer Centre in Houston, Texas.
Chief executive Tim Jones, who cofounded the company out of the BioInnovate Ireland programme at the University of Galway, said SymPhysis was excited to begin to see its device benefiting patients. “This would not have been possible without the support of our investors, who have seen that this is an unmet clinical need with global market potential. We have also been able to demonstrate to them that this is a device with the support of global leaders in cancer care, so there is no question about the appetite for it: it is all about getting it to our first patients as soon as possible.”
SymPhysis expects to close its next round of funding in late 2024.