410 Medical, the company that in 2017 commercialized a product created by BME students, has recently received $3.1 million in new funding! The product, called LifeFlow, was developed in Dr. Andrew DiMeo’s Senior Design class by a five-woman team of BME students: Denise Witman, Laura Rucker, Ashley Hayes, Alex Eller, and Lizz Davenport. The team shadowed Dr. Mark Piehl of WakeMed Hospitals and studied real-world medical needs to develop the prototype–a handheld rapid infuser used for resuscitation of critically ill patients, such as children with sepsis and other forms of shock. The technology was then developed into a commercially viable product by Dr. Piehl and passed FDA regulation in 2016.
Following positive feedback from local medical institutions, 410 Medical expanded their market for LifeFlow nationwide and gained its first major investor, Triangle Venture Alliance, in July 2017. The recent round of funding, reported by WRAL TechWire, was led by the AIM Group and includes other investors such as the North Carolina Venture Capital Multiplier Fund, Kleinheinz Capital, and WakeMed Health & Hospitals. Per WRAL, the LifeFlow device is being used or tested in more than 40 hospitals, and 410 Medical is looking towards expanding that market as well as use of the technology in clinical studies.
Congratulations to 410 Medical on their new opportunity to expand; to the five students who developed the product; and to Dr. DiMeo, who made it all possible!
To read more about the original commercial launch in 2017 and the BME coverage of it, click here.