ENCINITAS – Heart procedures are complicated and highly technical, but one Encinitas startup has a simple way of describing the function of its device.
“We’re like the can opener to the left heart,” said Eric Sauter, chief operating officer and co-founder of Atraverse Medical.
The start-up’s device is the aptly named Hotwire, which uses radio frequency to cauterize, or burn, an opening less than a millimeter in size on the left side of the heart, which is otherwise difficult to access.
Chief Operating Officer
Atraverse Medical
That opening allows a surgeon to perform catheter ablation or other procedures in the heart to treat several conditions.
Using a Hotwire to access the heart can shave hours off the procedures, which not only potentially saves thousands of dollars but also allows a surgeon to help many more patients by doing more procedures in a single day, Sauter said.
Experienced Medtech Founders
Along with Dr. Steven Micklesen, the company’s chief translational science officer, and CEO John Slump, Sauter is one of three co-founders of Atraverse Medical.
Mickelsen, a cardiac electrophysiology physician at Scripps Hospital in La Jolla, pioneered the first pulsed field ablation devices for treatment of atrial fibrillation, the most common clinical cardiac arrhythmia.
Slump founded and was the operating executive of three companies that were sold for a total of $1 billion.
In 2012, Mickelsen and Slump co-founded Farapulse in Iowa to capitalize on pulsed field ablation devices, and Sauter was the company’s first employee. Boston Scientific acquired Farapulse for $800 million.
Micklesen and Sauter moved to California three years ago to work for the publicly held company Acutus Medical in Carlsbad. That company had challenges, and last November it laid off two-thirds of its staff and in May it was delisted from Nasdaq.
By then, Sauter had already left and founded Altraverse Medical to commercialize his invention, the Hotwire. He recruited Mickelsen and Slump, who at the time was in Chicago.
Sauter said the pulsed field ablation developed by Mickelsen could help countless people with atrial fibrillation, but a better procedure for accessing the heart could help even more.
“The next step for Dr. Mickelsen and myself was improving that access to get you into the left heart so you can deliver the therapy,” he said.
Fast Growing Procedure
In May, the FDA announced clearance for the Hotwire.
That same month, Atraverse Medical announced it had secured $12.5 million in seed investments, including financing from physicians, venture investors and successful medtech entrepreneurs.
Sauter said the company is gearing up for a $20 million Series A funding round planned for early next year to go toward the development of additional products.
In another milestone, Dr. Devi Nair, director of cardiac electrophysiology and research at St. Bernards Medical Center in Arkansas, became the first physician to use the Hotwire on a patient earlier this year.
“We are thrilled to use the Hotwire in our clinical practice and are proud to be first in the world to utilize this innovative technology,” she said at the time.
Nair performed twelve cases after crossing the septum with the Hotwire, including four atrial fibrillation ablation procedures and 12 left atrial appendage closures.
Sauter said the hope for the company in a year is to have its commercial team built out to the point that they are working toward a $5 million revenue plan.
“The market is just taking off like crazy,” he said about potential growth. “Doctors can’t treat enough patients.”
Sauter said the Hotwire may make it possible for more people to be treated for cardiac diseases such as atrial fibrillation, one of the most common heart conditions and one that can severely impact a person’s life because it causes shortness of breath and palpitations.
“There’s over a million procedures per year globally, and it’s growing at almost a 20% rate,” he said, adding that an aging population and greater diagnosis of heart conditions are contributing to the rise. “It’s one of the fastest growing procedures in the world.”
Sauter said in the past, a procedure to treat atrial fibrillation might take six to eight hours, leaving a surgeon to perform only one a day.
Now with pulsed field ablation devices and the Hotwire, he said a procedure might take 20 or 30 minutes, allowing a doctor to treat several more patients in a day.
Atraverse Medical
FOUNDED: 2022
CEO: John Slump
HEADQUARTERS: Encinitas
BUSINESS: Medical device manufacturer
FOUNDERS: Dr. Steven Mickelsen, Eric Sauter
EMPLOYEES: 12
WEBSITE: https://atraversemedical.com/
