Israeli company Medasense Biometrics, which developed NOL technology for monitoring and managing pain, announced an $18 million funding round as part of the company’s Series C. The investment was led by Spanish Asabys Partners and private investors, with existing investors Baxter Ventures, Olive Tree Ventures, and LGL Capital.

As we all know, pain is entirely subjective, oftentimes it’s hard to put the feeling into words. Pain management has become an increasingly worrisome issue, due to a rise in numbers of overdoses, both during surgery and mismanaged post-operative prescriptions. The Israeli company’s developed technology creates a unique “Signature of Pain” for each patient, otherwise known as NOL monitoring. This aims to revolutionize the current standard, by empowering physicians with data-backed insight to personalize treatment in the operation room, avoiding overdoses, and eliminating doubt while a patient is under anesthesia.

"Together with our trusted investors, who share our passion to improve pain management, we expect to make a significant contribution to enhancing pain care," said Galit Zuckerman-Stark, Medasense founder and CEO.

In addition, the company has also been active in the implementation of its NOL monitoring technology on COVID-19 ventilated patients. Studies have shown that NOL monitoring can potentially reduce hypotensive events and opioid consumption during surgery, reduce postoperative pain experienced by patients in the post-anesthesia care unit, and reduce the cost of care. This addresses a widespread need. It is estimated that 50% of surgical patients suffer from moderate to severe postoperative pain and 12% suffer adverse events due to pain relief medication. These can result in extended hospitalization, additional healthcare costs, and a 50% increase in hospital readmissions.

Josep Ll. Sanfeliu, founding partner of Asabys Partners, stated: "Medasense is a model startup, having successfully introduced a disruptive medical device technology to the market. Its artificial intelligence solution is impacting clinical outcomes to benefit patients and to enable better use of healthcare resources."

I think it’s important to focus as well on the post-operation qualities that Medasense offers. In 2016, over 11 million cases of prescription opioid abuse were reported in the U.S. alone, an alarming figure considering that the numbers have only risen since then. However, Medasense’s flagship product PMD-200, helps secure postoperative pain management in a potentially non-threatening way. Innovation such as this will provide a data-backed solution aimed at reducing the frightening opioid addiction numbers and subsequent costs.

"This funding round will allow us to expand and further consolidate commercial deployment of NOL technology in Europe through our distribution agreement with Medtronic and to complete the process of obtaining FDA approval for commercialization in the U.S," explains Zuckerman-Stark.

Medasense was founded in 2008 by CEO Galit Zuckerman-Stark. The company has signed an exclusive European distribution deal with Medtronic, and in addition is currently operational in Latin America, Canada, Australia, and Israel.