EU’s EIC Accelerator program has awarded the Danish medtech company Rehaler 11 mDKK (1.48 mEUR) in grant and a further 8 mDKK (1.08 mEUR) in equity investment, supporting its groundbreaking migraine treatment device. The funding will empower Rehaler to greatly expand its recently launched pivotal clinical trial, as well as to commence market preparation and expansion of its team.
”This grant and equity investment represent a huge milestone for us as a company and for our technology, and serves as a clear validation of our value proposition for patients, clinicians and society at large”, said Rehaler’s CEO Troels Johansen.
“This is the first migraine treatment of its kind so it is absolutely crucial to conduct gold-standard, large-scale clinical validation. The EIC has now made that possible by allowing us to add a number of additional trial sites in USA and Europe, expanding the size of the trial from 60 patients to 220. The funding also provides crucial support for market preparation, production upscaling, regulatory activities, and expansion of our team”.
Rehaler’s migraine treatment device is a small drug-free inhaler that works by accurately controlling the inspired levels of CO2 and oxygen.
”It has been known since 1950 that CO2/oxygen mixtures inhibit migraine attacks but this is the first device that is able to deliver the correct mixture in a way which is both safe and practical in use”, said Troels Johansen.
The 10 gram device is developed from a prototype which demonstrated proof of concept in a pilot study at Aarhus University Hospital (Denmark). The results were published in Cephalalgia which is the highest ranked scientific headache journal in the world.
Rehaler’s first commercial target is migraine with aura which has a prevalence in the population of 4%.
”Three out of four migraine patients are not satisfied with their current treatment, which shows a significant need for new effective treatments”, added Troels Johansen.
Rehaler was one of only 51 companies who received EIC Accelerator funding, out of a total of 551 pre-selected applicants.
