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Posted on Fri, Nov 30, 2012 : 10:16 a.m.

Tangent Medical Technologies raises $8.6 million round of funding after receiving FDA approval

By Ben Freed

On the heels of getting FDA approval for its NovaCath closed-system IV device, Scio Township-based Tangent Medical Technlogies has closed an $8.6 million round of funding. The medical device company is currently focused on producing the device and bringing it to market.

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Tangent Medical Technologies co-founders (l-r) Adrienne Harris, Elyse Kemmerer and Steven White stand next to an injectable training arm with an IV system.

Angela J. Cesere | AnnArbor.com

According to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings by the company, there are nine investors involved in this round of funding. While the investors were not disclosed, directors of Arboretum Ventures in Ann Arbor and Flagship Ventures in Cambridge, Massachusetts are listed as “related persons” in the document.

Tangent, a University of Michigan spinoff company led by serial CEO Jeff Williams, received FDA approval in September for their IV device that they say will help cut costs to hospitals and discomfort in patients.

The device is a new catheter that the company says will hold needles more steady, with the intention of making life easier for nurses and causing less pain for patients. The company believes they are entering a $1.3 billion market that has seen little innovation in the past 10 years.

Williams has previously led medical technology companies Accuri Cryometers and HandyLabs. Both companies were sold to New Jersey medical device giant Becton Dickinson for approximately $500 million combined.

Williams was unable to be reached for comment Friday morning.

Tangent has been developing their technology since it spun out of the university’s Medical Innovation Center in 2009. Elyse Kemmerer, Adrienne Harris, Steve White, and Merrell Sami founded the company, which currently has approximately 15 employees working in the Ann Arbor area.

Before this most recent round of fundraising, the company had raised approximately $10 million in venture capital.

Ben Freed covers business for AnnArbor.com. You can sign up here to receive Business Review updates every week. Reach out to Ben at 734-623-2528 or email him at benfreed@annarbor.com. Follow him on twitter @BFreedinA2