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The Dublin-based company has been growing in recent years and has now raised a total of €25m.
Irish medtech HealthBeacon has raised €6m in its latest funding round to scale its team and meet growing demand for its technology.
Led by Elkstone and Crow Rock Capital, the funding round brings the company’s total funding raised to €25m.
HealthBeacon has developed a Smart Sharps Bin and companion app, with the aim of helping patients manage injectable medications, adhere to treatment schedules and safely dispose of used sharps. Launched in 2014, the system is now available in 15 global markets.
Last year, HealthBeacon raised €5.5m in an oversubscribed funding round, and announced plans to hire 70 new people over two years and expand into more global markets.
In June of this year, it signed a multimillion-dollar deal with US-based household appliance company Hamilton Beach Brands to roll out its injection care management system in the US and Canada. HealthBeacon also said at the time that it would triple its team.
Expected surge in demand
The business was founded in 2013 by CEO Jim Joyce and CTO Kieran Daly, and now has offices in Dublin and Boston. Joyce said that HealthBeacon’s Smart Sharps Bin is the first of its kind to be approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.
“With over 30m people across Europe and North America administering injections in the home, an estimated half of whom fail to adhere to their medication schedule, our technology offers a real solution to a significant health and safety challenge today,” he added.
“It is our intention to use this fresh round of funding to scale our team and production to meet current demands and our future growth ambitions.”
HealthBeacon is expecting a surge in demand for its tech after securing 12 new contracts with pharma companies, speciality pharmacies and insurers last year, in addition to its partnership with Hamilton Beach Brands.
Novartis is one of the big names in HealthBeacon’s list of customers. Audrey Derveloy, general manager of Novartis Ireland, said that the medtech’s system helps patients stick to schedules and gives them “the best chance of a positive outcome”.
“The uptake by our patients has been very strong and we have enjoyed working with the HealthBeacon team over the past couple of years,” she added.
Based on research accepted by the National Association of Speciality Pharmacy, HealthBeacon found a 19pc improvement in therapy persistence by patients who injected medications at home using its tech when compared to those who didn’t.
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