LONDON (Reuters) - Privately held company CeQur, which is developing the world's first three-day insulin infusion device for people with type 2 diabetes, has raised $100 million in a funding round that shows strong investor appetite for hot medical technology.
The deal is the largest medical technology financing in Europe since 2006, according to its backers.
The Swiss-headquartered group said it would use the cash from the so-called series C financing to pay for clinical and regulatory work, as well as to scale up manufacturing and commercial operations ahead of the expected launch of its second-generation PaQ device in 2016.
The patch-like insulin infusion device offers an alternative to daily insulin injections made by the likes of Novo Nordisk (CO:NOVOb), Sanofi (PA:SASY) and Eli Lilly (N:LLY).
The new funding round was led by Woodford Investment Management and Arthurian Life Sciences. Existing investors including Endeavour Vision, Schroder & Co Banque and VI Partners also participated in the round.
CeQur was established in January 2008 and is chaired by Eric Milledge, who previously worked at Johnson & Johnson (N:JNJ) for more than three decades.