AMT Medical and the EIC Accelerator: Stitch-Free Heart Bypass

AMT Medical wants coronary bypass surgery done "without the need of heart arrest and suturing", in the words of its EIC report. The company, based in Utrecht, replaces the stitching with ELANA: a clip and an excimer laser catheter that join the graft to the artery while the heart keeps beating and blood keeps flowing. Its EIC project aimed at "replacing expensive, invasive and high-risk open-heart surgery, with 'keyhole' minimally invasive surgery".

The European Innovation Council granted €2,497,469 towards a €3.6 million project from October 2022 to September 2025, which set "clinical validation and market approval by 2025" as its goal. The company's SAFE-CAB II trial treated 71 patients in open-chest surgery in the Netherlands and Germany; its results, published in July 2026, showed device-related serious cardiac events in 2.9% of patients at one year, meeting the trial's non-inferiority threshold, according to AMT's announcement. CE marking is still being prepared.

Where AMT Medical Stands Now

In April 2025 AMT raised $25 million in a Series B led by Bender Analytical Holding, with Invest-NL and the European Innovation Council as new investors, to pursue CE marking, start US trials in open and robotic surgery and finish the European trial. At the time it targeted CE marking in 2026 for open bypass surgery through the breastbone or through a small incision between the ribs. After the July 2026 publication it said it was preparing the CE application and an FDA Investigational Device Exemption submission. Neither has been announced as filed.

The Technology: A Laser Instead of a Needle

The trial enrolled patients from June 2023 to September 2024 at St Antonius Hospital in Nieuwegein and the Deutsches Herzzentrum der Charité in Berlin; they averaged 71 years old and 3.5 bypass connections each. At six months, 92.5% of ELANA connections were fully open, rising to 97.5% with the latest laser catheter. The principal investigator, Bart van Putte, said "the most challenging step of a bypass operation can be performed without sutures on a beating heart".

What the EIC Project Promised, and What CORDIS Shows

The final report lists device optimisation, standardised laser catheters, kits made for the first 25 patients, ethical approval of its protocol and surgeons trained in Amsterdam. It claims the method could cut direct bypass costs by more than 50%, without data. The project's headline promise was keyhole surgery with market approval by 2025. The evidence so far comes from open-chest operations, and the approval has not come.

1. Clinical validationDelivered71 patients, published 2026.
2. Market approval by 2025MissedCE still in preparation.
3. Keyhole bypassNot shownTrial in open surgery.
4. 50% lower costsNo dataClaim only.

The Money

AMT raised more than €10 million in a 2020 Series A from NextGen Ventures and Utrecht Holdings, and $25 million in the 2025 Series B. The EIC project sought a €2.5 million grant plus €5 million in equity; the size of the EIC's stake in the Series B was not disclosed. AMT does not publish revenue and has no approved product to sell.

What Cannot Be Checked

Why Europe Should Care

The EIC is both funder and shareholder of a Dutch company with peer-reviewed evidence for a new way of doing heart bypass surgery. Its Series B lead talked of bringing the technology to the US; the European approval the EIC project was built around is still pending.

The Verdict

AMT Medical and the EIC have not been asked for comment for this article. It is based entirely on public records and published statements, linked throughout.