Brian Shields from Neurent Medical has been named Founder of the Year 2019 at the Enterprise Ireland High-Potential Startup Awards, sponsored by Grant Thornton.
Neurent Medical is a Galway-based medical device company that designs and develops products for treating inflammatory diseases of the nasal cavities. The initial product offering reduces the primary symptoms of rhinitis, congestion and rhinorrhoea.
Neurent Medical was established by Brian Shields and David Townley as a spin-out from NUI Galway. The company is developing a minimally invasive, hand-held radiofrequency device which ear, nose and throat surgeons will be able to use to treat patients with rhinitis in an office setting. The product is currently undergoing clinical trials.
In 2014 Shields and Townley were assigned ENT as their clinical area to focus on as Fellows in the BioInnovate Ireland programme. A commercialisation grant from Enterprise Ireland enabled the entrepreneurs to participate in a two-year assessment process while based at NUI Galway.
According to Shields: “We spent a lot of time validating the science that underpins the theories we rely on and built enough value into the proposition so that we reached a point where we could speak to potential investors.”
In Association with
In May 2018, Neurent Medical raised €9.3m in a Series A financing round led by Fountain Healthcare Partners with participation from Atlantic Bridge Capital, the Western Development Commission, Enterprise Ireland and a syndicate of Irish and US medical device veterans.
In December 2018 the company also sourced €2.8m from the government’s Disruptive Innovation Fund for rhinitis research in association with UCD.
Photo: Brian Shields (centre) with finalists Brendan Sheppard of SmartFactory and Gillian Doyle of Cerebreon Technologies. (Pix: Orla Murray/ SON Photo)
