Manus Neurodynamica, which develops and markets products and technologies for neuromotor assessment, has closed a £2.6 million funding round to support the commercialisation of its NeuroMotor Pen – a medical device to aid diagnosis and monitoring of neuromotor disorders including Parkinson’s disease.
Existing investors supported the £2.6 million investment round including the North East Innovation Fund, supported by the European Regional Development Fund, and managed by Northstar Ventures co-leading the round with Par Equity with participation from SIS Ventures, Scottish Enterprise and Old College Capital.
The funding will allow Manus to continue its launch into the EU pharmacy retail sector, focused on prevention screening, and global clinical markets, helping to differentiate between Parkinson’s and other movement disorders, aiding the patient pathway and reducing costs. The funds will also support the company’s application for US FDA regulatory clearance and progressing its US trials, as well as further developing and implementing its US commercialisation strategy.
The company recently announced it has received funding from Johnson & Johnson Innovation to further the utility of the NeuroMotor Pen into immunotherapy. Although funding has been received directly from J&J to undertake a clinical trial for the detection of neuromotor adverse effects following CAR T-cell therapy, the funding round will support optimising the configuration of the NeuroMotor Pen for this indication. Furthermore, it will support development of the pen in other neurological conditions, such as Alzheimer’s disease.
Dr Rutger Zietsma, CEO of Manus, said: “I’d like to thank Manus’ existing investors for supporting the Company’s commercialisation programme of our unique NeuroMotor Pen, building on previous support we received in 2021. This year is set to be an exciting one, with partnerships already secured, and we truly believe our non-invasive and CE-marked product can have a huge impact on patients and tackle the unmet need for a quick, inexpensive device that can detect neurological conditions, particularly given the ageing global population.”
Alastair Moore, senior investment manager at Par Equity added: “Manus is rapidly establishing itself as a go-to diagnostic for neurological conditions and with funding secured to now obtain US regulatory clearance off the back of achieving FDA breakthrough status, the next 18 months promise to be transformational. The NeuroMotor Pen’s ability to rapidly and non-invasively determine whether an individual requires further care has potential to deliver enormous efficiency gains for health systems while enabling the individual to have clarity on the meaning of their symptoms within minutes.”
