Founded August 2014
Stage Business development
Investors Trendlines Incubators Israel
CEO Avner Geva
Minimally invasive, needle-free, Foley-like catheter to deliver the toxin into the bladder wall for the treatment of overactive bladder.
Vensica is developing an ultrasound catheter used to deliver Botox into the bladder wall painlessly and without the use of needles. The catheter leverages the known properties of ultrasound (opens pores in the tissue and “pushes” the drug through these pores).
The procedure using Vensica’s system can be performed in the doctor’s office or clinic, without anesthesia. Read more about the idea behind Vensica’s system.
2 patent families on delivery technology
The market seeks a safe, painless method to deliver Botox into the bladder wall, without needles.
Extensive experience in the medical device field; biomedical engineering, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology; premedical studies and molecular biology, Yale University
More than 30 years of therapeutic ultrasound development experience
Chairman, Department of Urology, Vanderbilt Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee
Chairman, Department of Urology, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
Overactive bladder (OAB), characterized by the urgent need to urinate and involuntary loss of urine, has a negative impact on the quality of life. In 50% of the cases, medications are ineffective and often have significant side effects. In 2011, the FDA approved the use of Botox to treat OAB. This procedure is performed using a cystoscope (to visualize the interior of the bladder) and a needle to inject the Botox. While Botox has demonstrated effectiveness in treating OAB, the procedure is expensive, painful (20-30 injection sites), risky (urinary tract infections), and in most cases performed under sedation.
OAB is the most common type of bladder disorder. There are an estimated 39 million people in the United States alone with OAB, and 4 million of them are unsatisfied with treatment.*
*W. Stuart Reynolds , Jay Fowke, Roger Dmochowski. The Burden of Overactive Bladder on US Public Health. Curr Bladder Dysfunct Rep. 2016 March. The Total Economic Burden of Overactive Bladder in the United States: A Disease Specific Approach. Am J Manag Care. 2009 March.