Companion Medical, a San Diego medical device startup founded about 16 months ago, has raised $3 million in an ongoing Series B financing round led by an investment from Eli Lilly, according to a statement from the company yesterday.
“We will use the capital to attempt to achieve FDA clearance of our device as well as other development,” CEO Sean Saint wrote in response to a query from Xconomy.
Companion Medical has been developing an insulin injector pen that uses a Bluetooth link to connect to the patient’s smartphone. The injector pen sends data about the amount of insulin injected and time of use to a mobile app, and includes such features as a dose calculator and missed dose alarms. “The FDA has not yet cleared a Bluetooth pen (to our knowledge); we hope to be the first,” the CEO added.
Saint declined to say how much capital Companion Medical had raised previously. Before founding the company, Saint was director of mechanical engineering and advanced technology at San Diego-based Tandem Diabetes Care (NASDAQ: [[ticker:TNDM]]), and worked before that at Santa Rosa, CA-based Alure Medical and San Diego’s Dexcom (NASDAQ: [[ticker:DXCM]]).
Companion Medical said in April, 2014, that it had received an undisclosed investment from the Swedish medical research company Diamyd Medical. In September, Saint walked away with an award for content that included prizes worth $5,000, based on a presentation he gave at the San Diego Tech Coast Angel’s 2014 quick-pitch competition.
In its statement, the company says Lilly’s investment, along with funding from other investors, could enable Companion to complete testing and seek a 510(k) clearance for its medical device and related smartphone app.