Moximed Raises $40M for Knee OA Device

Moximed, Inc., a medical device company based in Fremont, California and focused on knee osteoarthritis solutions, has successfully raised $40 million in Series C equity and debt financing.

Woodside, California-based Runway Growth Capital LLC provided the debt financing. Advent Life Sciences, based in the United Kingdom, led the financing round. Other returning investors included New Enterprise Associates, Future Fund, Vertex Healthcare, Gilde Healthcare, GBS Venture Partners, and Morgenthaler Ventures.

Moximed CEO Anton Clifford, Ph.D. told OTW, “Proceeds from the financing will be used to gain the necessary regulatory approvals and build the infrastructure for a commercial organization of the MISHA™ Knee System to successfully address clinical needs of the many patients suffering from knee OA [osteoarthritis] who are ineligible for, or unwilling to undergo, total knee replacement.”

Founded in 2008, Moximed spent more than a decade researching and developing “the world’s first implantable shock absorber (ISA) for the knee.” It employed the benefits of “weight load reduction on diseased joints” to create its MISHA Knee System.

Advent Life Sciences General Partner Shahzad Malik, M.D. remarked, “Working people who have knee OA have been waiting for a solution that falls between conservative care and eventual joint replacement.”

Dr. Malik continued, “Moximed has the potential to fill this gap in knee OA treatment with the MISHA Knee System, and we are excited to further support Moximed’s efforts to alter the treatment paradigm for millions of Americans.”

The MISHA Knee System is implanted during an outpatient procedure. The implant is, per the press release, “placed on the medial knee and moves with the natural joint, reducing about 30% of the peak force on the knee with every walking step.” Additionally, it has “been shown to alleviate pain, improve function, and potentially delay the need for total knee replacement in some patients.”

Moximed recently concluded a Calypso pivotal study on the MISHA Knee System. The results of will be presented at OSET Boston (Orthopaedic Summit) on September 22, 2022.

Moximed CEO Anton Clifford, Ph.D. told OTW, “The MISHA Knee System was designed to be distinctly different than current options knee OA patients have. For knee OA sufferers today, there are two primary approaches to managing their pain and symptoms, conservative care and joint replacement. Conservative care includes weight loss, modifying physical activity and continued consumption of NSAIDs, injections, braces, etc. that are shown to be ineffective in the long term. For active parents, caregivers and workers these are not sustainable options. Joint replacement on the other hand is a great option for the right patient, someone with late or end stage disease and not considered high demand in terms of their activity.”

Dr. Clifford continued, “Between these two clinical approaches, conservative care and joint replacement, is a chasm in which many patients remain highly symptomatic and without viable treatment options. Pain reduction, activity improvement, complete joint preservation, outpatient surgery, and rapid recovery have all been demonstrated in our pivotal study, and we know, through patient preference testing, these potential benefits are really important to our patient population.”