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17 Feb 2022 07:50
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17 February 2022
RTW Venture Fund Limited
Additional Investment in Magnolia Medical
RTW Co-leads a $46 Million Financing Round in Magnolia Medical
· RTW Venture Fund Limited announces additional investment in a portfolio company, Magnolia Medical
· The proceeds from the financing round are intended to further accelerate commercialization of the Steripath® Initial Specimen Diversion Device® platform and fast-track new innovations in sepsis diagnostic accuracy and timelines
· Ovid Amadi, PhD, Senior Analyst at RTW joins Magnolia Medical's Board of Directors
RTW Venture Fund Limited (the "Company"), a London Stock Exchange-listed investment fund focused on identifying transformative assets with high growth potential across the life sciences sector, is pleased to note the announcement by Magnolia Medical Technologies, Inc. ("Magnolia Medical") on 16 February 2022 of its completion of a US$46 million growth equity financing round.
The Company, alongside other investment vehicles of RTW Investments, LP (the "Investment Manager"), confirms that it participated in the financing round together with other investors.
Magnolia Medical is a privately held medical technology company that develops, manufactures, and markets innovative blood and bodily fluid collection devices to facilitate significant improvements in the accuracy, consistency, and predictability of critical laboratory tests. Magnolia Medical is an inventor of Steripath®, an FDA 510(k)-cleared device platform indicated to reduce blood culture contamination for sepsis testing. The proceeds from the financing round are intended to further accelerate commercialization of the Steripath® Initial Specimen Diversion Device® platform and fast-track new innovations in sepsis diagnostic accuracy and timelines.
Ovid Amadi, PhD, Senior Analyst at the Investment Manager, will join Board of Directors of Magnolia Medical. He said: "RTW remains committed to supporting Magnolia Medical and its management team in its mission to establish a new standard-of-care for sepsis testing accuracy to improve patient safety and outcomes and enable cost-effective delivery of care. As Board observers and advisors for the past three years, we have seen first-hand the team's strong leadership and execution resulting in accelerated market adoption of its platform technology, Steripath, and forward advancement of new innovative technologies."
The Investment Manager is looking forward to growing the Company's investment pipeline and updating shareholders on further investments by the Company in due course.
Magnolia Medical's announcement can be accessed on its website at: www.magnolia-medical.com, the full text of which is contained below.
For Further Information
RTW Investments, LP +1 (646) 343 9280Stephanie Sirota, Chief Business OfficerAlexandra Taracanova, PhD, Director of Investor Relations
Julia Enright, Senior Business Development Associate
Buchanan +44 (0)20 7466 5107Charles Ryland
Henry Wilson
George Beale
About RTW Venture Fund Limited:
RTW Venture Fund Limited (LSE: RTW & RTWG) is an investment fund focused on identifying transformative assets with high growth potential across the life sciences sector. Driven by a long-term approach to support innovative businesses, RTW Venture Fund invests in companies developing next-generation therapies and technologies that can significantly improve patients' lives.
RTW Venture Fund Limited is managed by RTW Investments, LP, a leading healthcare-focused entrepreneurial investment firm with deep scientific expertise and a strong track record of supporting companies developing life-changing therapies.
Visit the RTW website at www.rtwfunds.com for more information.
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The information in this announcement may include forward-looking statements, which are based on the current expectations and projections about future events, and in certain cases can be identified by the use of terms such as "may", "will", "should", "expect", "anticipate", "project", "estimate", "intend", "continue", "target", "believe" (or the negatives thereon) or other variations thereon or comparable terminology. These forward-looking statements, as well as those included in any related materials, are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions about the Company and/or its underlying investments, including, among other things, the development of the applicable entity's business, trends in its operating industry, expected use of financing proceeds and future capital expenditures and acquisitions. In light of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the events in the forward-looking statements may not occur.
The information contained in this announcement is given at the date of its publication (unless otherwise marked). No reliance may be placed for any purpose whatsoever on the information or opinions contained in this announcement or on its completeness, accuracy or fairness.
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Magnolia Medical Announces Completion of $46 Million Growth Equity Financing
Funding will further accelerate commercialization of the Steripath® Initial Specimen Diversion Device® platform and fast-track new innovations in sepsis diagnostic accuracy and timeliness
Seattle, WA - February 16, 2022 - Magnolia Medical Technologies, Inc., inventors of Steripath®, the only FDA 510(k)-cleared device platform indicated to reduce blood culture contamination for sepsis testing,1 today announced the completion of a $46 million growth equity financing co-led by RTW Investments, LP ("RTW") and Sectoral Asset Management with significant participation by new investor Janus Henderson Investors. All existing investors including HealthQuest Capital, Evidity Health Capital, and SightLine Partners also participated in the financing.
Concurrent with the financing, Marc-Andre Marcotte, CFA, Partner at Sectoral Asset Management and Ovid Amadi, PhD, Senior Analyst at RTW have joined the Company's Board of Directors.
"The closing of this financing comes on the heels of our record-setting new account acquisition and top-line sales growth in Q4 and 2021," said Greg Bullington, CEO and co-founder of Magnolia Medical. "The clinical success we continue to achieve as we rapidly expand our hospital customer base is remarkable. Given the criticality of sepsis testing accuracy to enable appropriate patient treatment decisions, our goal remains to ensure every patient undergoing sepsis testing has access to our Steripath technology to dramatically improve the accuracy of the results."
"Additionally, this funding further enables us to fast-track new innovations, leveraging our extensive intellectual property portfolio, to advance Magnolia's overall mission to eliminate the misdiagnosis of sepsis," Bullington added.
Steripath® has been adopted in hundreds of U.S. hospitals and healthcare systems to address the problem of blood culture contamination, which can lead to sepsis misdiagnosis, unnecessary, prolonged, and harmful antibiotic treatment, false-positive CLABSIs, and wasted healthcare resources.
"RTW remains committed to supporting Magnolia Medical and its management team in its mission to establish a new standard-of-care for sepsis testing accuracy to improve patient safety and outcomes, and enable cost-effective delivery of care," said Ovid Amadi. "As Board observers and advisors for the past three years, we have seen first-hand the team's strong leadership and execution resulting in accelerated market adoption of its platform technology, Steripath, and forward advancement of new innovative technologies."
"We are thrilled to be partnering with Magnolia Medical," said Marc-Andre Marcotte of Sectoral Asset Management. "The company is establishing a new standard-of-care and its best-in-class solution, Steripath, addresses a significant unmet need in healthcare. Magnolia Medical is an evidence-based company with outstanding clinically proven technology. We are impressed with the company's expanding customer base, strong growth trajectory and the attractive opportunities that its future advanced technologies represent."
Steripath has demonstrated clinical- and cost-effectiveness in 20 studies, reporting sustained results of zero or near-zero blood culture contamination rates, up to a 31% reduction in vancomycin days of therapy, and as much as a 12-fold decrease in false-positive CLABSIs over extended periods of time.2,3,4
"We are excited to support Magnolia Medical's growth plan as the company leverages its intellectual property portfolio to accelerate the expansion of the Steripath hospital customer base. We look forward to watching the company's progress in its mission to eliminate sepsis misdiagnosis," said Andy Acker of Janus Henderson Investors.
Jefferies LLC served as an advisor to Magnolia.
About Magnolia Medical Technologies
Magnolia Medical Technologies develops, manufactures, and markets innovative blood and bodily fluid collection devices to facilitate significant improvements in the accuracy, consistency, and predictability of critical laboratory tests. Magnolia Medical invented and patented the Initial Specimen Diversion Technique (ISDT™) and Device (ISDD®) for blood culture collection and contamination prevention. The company has amassed an intellectual property portfolio, including more than 100 issued method, apparatus, and design patents with more than 70 additional patent applications pending. For more information, visit www.magnolia-medical.com.
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Contact:
Bob Gerberich
Chief Commercial Officer
bob.gerberich@magnolia-medical.com
1. Indicated to reduce the frequency of blood culture contamination when contaminants are present, compared to standard method controls without diversion.
2. Date on file.
3. Nielsen LE, Nguyen K, Wahl CK, et al. Initial Specimen Diversion Device® reduces blood culture contamination and vancomycin use in academic medical center. J Hosp Infect. 2021;117. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhin.2021.10.017.
4. Tompkins LS, et al. Getting to zero: impact of a device to reduce blood culture contamination and false-positive central line-associated blood stream infections. Submitted to Clin Infect Dis in December 2021.