iRhythm, has announced that it closed a US$17 million Series E financing led by Novo A/S. Norwest Venture Partners, which led the company’s Series D financing, also participated in the oversubscribed round. iRhythm’s ZIO Service has been used with almost 250,000 patients at over 800 institutions nationwide, and is covered by leading public and private insurers, since its launch in 2011. The company will use the proceeds to further accelerate market growth for its ZIO Service, expand technology development and continue to establish clinical evidence supporting its flagship solution.
“We are pleased to have Novo A/S as a new investor, and with this funding we are poised to further accelerate our company’s growth,” says Kevin King, president and chief executive officer of iRhythm. “Our ZIO Service is setting a new standard for long-term continuous cardiac monitoring of patients with suspected arrhythmia. We believe our strong and growing success with physicians and payers underscores the ZIO Service’s compelling value proposition of using novel technology to improve diagnosis of cardiac arrhythmias, while also increasing the efficiency of healthcare delivery.”
The ZIO Service enables long-term continuous monitoring using the non-invasive, small, wearable ZIO Patch, combined with proprietary algorithms and the ZIO report, to detect cardiac arrhythmias. These heart rhythm disturbances often occur infrequently and without symptoms, and may lead to serious complications if not detected and treated properly. The ZIO Patch enables continuous monitoring for up to 14 days, and the solution is proven in multiple, peer-reviewed published studies to improve cardiac arrhythmia diagnosis and change patient management, compared to traditional approaches to ambulatory electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring.
Multiple new studies were presented recently at Heart Rhythm 2014, the Heart Rhythm Society’s 35th Annual Scientific Sessions, supporting the use of the ZIO Service to identify atrial fibrillation (AF) and other cardiac arrhythmias. These include a study that found the ZIO Service identified nearly five times as many cases of AF in the same amount of study time, compared to the traditional Holter monitor.
iRhythm also announced that Tiba Aynechi, principal at Novo Ventures (US), has joined the company’s board of directors. Aynechi has more than 10 years of combined research, banking, and venture capital experience in life sciences that spans various therapeutic areas and technology platforms.
“With its disruptive yet proven technology, iRhythm has established itself as the global leader in long-term continuous cardiac monitoring, with the potential to improve diagnosis for the millions of patients each year who present with suspected arrhythmia,” says Aynechi. “We believe the company, with its vast technology capabilities, is poised to create the world’s largest and highest quality cardiac rhythm data sets to further revolutionize patient care.”
