NxThera – Vapor Ablation Therapy for BPH

NxThera Inc., a St. Paul, Minn.-based privately held medical devices company, has added $12.6 million in Series B financing. American Medical Systems Inc. led the round, and was joined by existing investors Arboretum Ventures, Aberdare Ventures and GDN Holdings. NxThera is developing medical technologies to treat a variety of endourology conditions. The company is developing an innovative and proprietary vapor ablation therapy to treat a variety of endourology conditions, beginning with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). In men, restrictions on the normal flow of urine from the bladder are caused by bladder obstructions, generally the result of BPH or bulbar urethral strictures. Symptoms of BPH include increased urination frequency, sudden urges to urinate, and weak urine flow. More than 70 percent of men over age 60 have some symptoms of BPH. NxThera is developing a novel therapy that delivers vapor directly to the prostate to reduce the tissue volume that causes these obstructions in a simple, office-based procedure designed to take only minutes, with minimal discomfort, and resulting in rapid and significant improvements in urine flow. BPH afflicts more than 32 million men in the United States. The company plans to use this capital to initiate a pivotal BPH clinical study outside of the United States and to obtain CE mark approval needed to support the introduction of its product in the European Economic Area. NxThera also has begun the process of seeking appropriate FDA approvals to undertake a second arm of the BPH clinical study in the U.S. Some other companies making advancements in the field of Urology include, but are not limited to HealthTronics and Urologix.