Viaka Newsletter - Building a better heart-care device!
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Hi everyone! This week, we’re shining the spotlight on MEACOR, a health technology startup revolutionizing heart care. I spoke with Toufic Azar, the co-founder of MEACOR.
Meacor Quick Stats
Founded: 2015
Key Individuals: Toufic Azar, co-founder
Raison d’être: MEACOR is providing “a novel catheter-based technique that would replicate that current surgical gold standard.”
Website: meacor.com
Ask: MEACOR is looking to connect with fellow entrepreneurs in medtech devices as well as with investors.
I got the chance to chat with Toufic about MEACOR’s story, and their goals for the future. Here are some of the insights from our chat.
MEACOR is a part of the MedTechinnovator cohort of 2022!
What is Meacor and how/why did it come to life?
Meacor stands for my heart in Latin. We are developing a catheter for repairing the heart valves. The company is a spin-off from Mcgill University which we launched when I was a PhD candidate (pending). The company has an R&D office in Beirut and is currently headquartered in MA, USA.
What is your personal story and relation to the problem (alongside your founders)?
The medical need was introduced to the engineering professors by Dr. Renzo Cecere. I embarked on the journey as a student. Seeing the novelty and opportunity for commercialization, Dr. Cecere and I co-founded the company. The significance and the technical challenge/difficulty of the problem motivated us as more than 30 companies have developed solutions over the year yet only one has made it to market and most were abandoned.
What market are you attacking? Are you adding on or trying to replace current offerings?
Heart Failure is the number one cause of death in the world. A major contributing condition is mitral and tricuspid valve regurgitation. Given the growing population of elderly patients with multiple comorbidities, the risk for conventional surgery is elevated. Only a fraction of these patients undergoes open-heart surgery. Catheter-based approaches offer the possibility to treat these patients. Currently no device that replicates the gold standard, open-heart ring annuloplasty, is approved for human use in the US.
The goal of Meacor is to introduce, develop and demonstrate a novel catheter-based technique that would replicate that current surgical gold standard. Meacor’s device, Cryocinch, uses on-demand cryoadhesion to compensates for the valve motion which allows it to secure anchors into the valve annulus that are thereafter cinched. This leads to a simpler, shorter, and more robust procedure with better anticipated outcomes. The technique is fundamentally a novel way of anchoring into tissue without the need to use grippers, thus allowing to suture into hard-to-access tissue in the human body.
The market is a large, under-penetrated patient base, with tens of thousands of patients that would be eligible for the treatment and is estimated to few billions per year. Currently, Abbot's Mitraclip with around $700 million in worldwide revenues is the only device on the market. Most of the market pie is still up for grab as the patients in need of catheter therapy, are estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands annually.
What are you looking for from the Viaka community?
Always looking for opportunities to connect with fellow entrepreneurs specifically to building potential consort of medtech device developers in the MENA (class II class III).
We are also actively fund raising to reach our next milestones, chronic animal studies, and reach design freeze to then go for a first-in-human
Promising Opportunities from Our MENA Partners
Below are a list of opportunities curated from the Viaka’s MENA partners.
For Founders
Plus.vc invests in early-stage founders (up to Series A) that have a MENA background or connection, but are founding their companies outside of MENA.
*I’m interested*
For Investors
Meacor is a start-up developing novel minimally invasive medical devices with a special focus on transcatheter interventions for valvular disease.
*I’m interested*
For Advisors
Klangoo, an AI-startup providing Natural Language Processing (NLP) to media and software companies, is looking for an advisor familiar with NLP use cases in the world of financial services, particularly in underwriting and risk management. This opportunity can be compensated.
*I’m interested*
If you would like to get involved with any of the opportunities above, please fill out the form below and indicate what opportunity you are interested in in the “Which of Viaka's startup and venture opportunities are you interested in?” section.
Exciting Announcements From Our Network
Below is a list of updates, wins, and asks emanating from members of the Viaka Network in the “West.”
Silicon Valley Bank, TechWadi, and Unshackled Ventures are hosting a great event inviting Boston-based investors and founders from MENA to the Silicon Valley Bank Office. The event will feature networking opportunities and will offer light refreshments for guests. This opportunity to meet more investors/founders in the diaspora ecosystem will take place on October 11th. Sign up and find out more here!
Great hiring opportunity from a Network member! Stephani Moukhaiber’s Al-Rawiya is looking for a marketing manager. See the posting here!
If you’re a member of our Network and would like to share your own update next week, email info.viaka@gmail.com or submit an update via this form.
That’s it for this week. Thank you!
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