Atrial fibrillation, an irregular heartbeat, is often treated by ablation: a catheter destroys the heart tissue around the pulmonary veins that triggers it. Healium Medical, a company in Yokneam, Israel, is developing Echomplish, a catheter system that uses ultrasound in two modes, first to image the target and then to ablate it without touching the tissue.
The European Innovation Council granted €2,500,000 towards an €11.37 million project, DMUT, that ran from September 2022 to August 2025. By its end the system had created more than 100 lesion points in animal studies, but no clinical study had begun, and the CORDIS report says continuing requires "additional financing". Healium's latest news, from February 2025, describes its "pre-clinical journey".
Company file
- Legal entity
- Healium Medical Ltd., Yokneam, Israel
- CEO
- Ran Sela, co-founder
- Chair
- Shimon Eckhouse, founder of Lumenis and Syneron
- Product
- Echomplish dual-mode ultrasound ablation system
- Indications
- Atrial fibrillation; hypertension listed
- Stage
- Preclinical
- EIC project
- DMUT, 1 Sep 2022 to 31 Aug 2025
- EIC funding
- Blended finance
Where Healium Stands Today
Healium's news page has two posts in the last two years: its selection as a finalist in MedTech Innovator Asia-Pacific 2024, and a February 2025 image of "a defining moment in our pre-clinical journey with Echomplish". Its about page lists the team and board and indications for atrial fibrillation and high blood pressure. We found no clinical trial on ClinicalTrials.gov, no regulatory approval and no funding announcement.
The Technology: Seeing and Treating With Sound
Healium's approach is "contactless" and "dual-mode": ultrasound is used both to see the target and to treat it. According to CORDIS, animal studies showed a "continuous lesion around the pulmonary vein" and imaging that could "locate the exact connection point between the vein and the atrium".
"Simplifying the rapid growing market of ablation procedures with advanced miniaturized ultrasound guided therapeutic technology."
Healium Medical websiteWhat the EIC Project Promised, and What CORDIS Shows
DMUT promised "easy to use, contactless dual-mode ultrasound technology for high accuracy treatment of atrial fibrillation, improving outcomes". CORDIS reports the animal results and a MedTech Innovator selection in 2023, and says the next steps are completing procedure development, collecting chronic evidence and finding "additional financing" before clinical studies.
- A working prototypeDeliveredTested in animals.
- Imaging-guided ablationDeliveredContinuous lesions in animals.
- First-in-human studyMissedNot started by project end.
- Improved patient outcomesNot shownNo patients treated.
What Has Happened Since the Award
The Money
The award was blended finance; we found no EIC Fund investment. The EU paid about a fifth of the €11.37 million budget, leaving Healium to fund €8.87 million. Healium discloses no investors or funding rounds, and Israeli company records were not accessible for this article.
What cannot be checked
How much of the budget was actually raised and spent, whether the EIC took equity, and when Healium plans its first human study are not public.
Why Europe Should Care
Ablation for atrial fibrillation is a large and growing procedure, as Healium itself notes, and a contactless system with built-in imaging could be simpler to use. But the EU's grant covered only a small share of a large preclinical budget, and the project ended without reaching patients.
What the project promised
Contactless dual-mode ultrasound for accurate treatment of atrial fibrillation, improving outcomes.
What the record shows
Animal studies with good lesions, no patients treated and a stated need for more money.
The Verdict
Still in the lab after three years
DMUT advanced the technology in animals, but a project promising better outcomes for patients ended before treating any. Healium's own report says it needs more financing to go further, and it has announced none.
Healium Medical has not been asked for comment for this article. It is based entirely on company statements and EU project data, linked throughout.
