Medical technology company Nyxoah, based in Mont-Saint-Guibert in Walloon Brabant, will issue an initial public offer (IPO) on the stock market next month, with the aim of raising €60 million in funding.
“The Nyxoah IPO is expected to provide us with the financial resources to further develop compelling clinical evidence in Europe, Australia, New Zealand and the United States,” said CEO Olivier Taelman.
Existing investors have already committed to buying up at least €15 million of he new shares.
Nyxoah invented and manufactures Genio, a device intended to help people suffering from obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), a condition affecting mainly men, which causes sufferers to wake sometimes hundreds of times in the night without becoming conscious, when their breathing effectively stops.
The causes range from obesity to enlarged tonsils, and one of the most noticeable effects is snoring, together with general fatigue from lack of proper sleep.
In the longer term, OSA can even be life-threatening, contributing to high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, depression, and other ailments.
The most common treatment is a so-called CPAP machine (constant positive airway pressure) which pumps air through a mask as the patient sleeps, using positive air pressure to keep the airway open. Most people take time to get used to sleeping with a mask, and some never become accustomed.
Genio, by contrast, is a tiny chip that is installed though a small cut under the chin in a single procedure. When the patient goes to bed, they apply a patch which activates the chip, stimulating the hypoglossal nerve under the tongue which controls the muscles of the airway, keeping them open as the patient sleeps.
The company’s efforts for the time being are concentrated on Germany and Spain, where the implant, costing some €20,000 a time, is reimbursed by health insurance. Talks are under way in other countries, but have not yet started in Belgium.
The company is reckoning on 25 new implantations in Germany this year, with 250 next year.
The prospectus for the IPO now has to be approved by the regulator of the Euronext stock exchange, the Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA). When that hurdle is cleared Nyxoah will announce its opening price, with the launch itself expected around 23 September.
Alan Hope
The Brussels Times
