Vetex Promised the EIC Accelerator a DVT Clot Catheter: The Record

Deep vein thrombosis, a blood clot in the large veins of the leg or pelvis, is usually treated with blood thinners that stop the clot growing but do not remove it. Removing it has meant clot-busting drugs infused over hours or days, often with time in intensive care because of the bleeding risk, or mechanical devices that struggle with old clot stuck to the vein wall. Vetex Medical, a start-up based in the Business Innovation Centre at NUI Galway, built a catheter to pull such clots out in one session without those drugs.

In the EIC SME Instrument Phase 2 round of 3 April 2019, part of the Horizon 2020 EIC pilot, the European Commission selected Vetex for a grant-only award. CORDIS records an EU contribution of €2,485,644 towards a €3,550,920 project that ran from 1 May 2019 to 31 July 2021. Vetex is the only company named for the project. Before the project ended, the company had won US and European approval for its device and had been sold to the American medical device company Surmodics for $39.9 million upfront, according to Surmodics' announcement filed with the SEC.

Where Vetex Stands Now

Vetex Medical Limited still exists as a company. The Irish register, via SoloCheck, lists it as a "Normal" small company with one shareholder, its registered office at the IDA Business Park in Ballinasloe and its latest accounts, for the year to 30 September 2025, filed on 29 May 2026. North Data shows the same address. Ballinasloe is where Surmodics makes balloon catheters, according to its 10-K for fiscal 2024. The free register summaries do not show revenue, profit or staff.

Surmodics acquired all the shares of Vetex on 2 July 2021 and announced the deal on 6 July, according to its press release; Venous News and Silicon Republic reported the same terms. Surmodics itself has since changed hands. An affiliate of the private equity firm GTCR completed its takeover on 19 November 2025, according to a Surmodics SEC filing, after a US court refused the Federal Trade Commission's request to block it on antitrust grounds over medical device coatings, as Surmodics announced on 10 November 2025.

The Technology: A Basket and a Screw

The catheter combines two mechanisms. A self-expanding basket under constant spring tension opens against the vein wall over a range of diameters and scrapes clot loose, while a motor-driven Archimedes screw inside it breaks the clot up and carries it out of the body, Surmodics says in its 10-K for fiscal 2021. The device is single-use and needs no capital equipment such as a separate pump console. That is the main difference Vetex claimed against catheter-directed thrombolysis, which can keep patients in hospital for up to eight days, and against established mechanical thrombectomy systems, which the CORDIS report says often require "expensive capital equipment". The CORDIS objective said the device would also suit patients who cannot take thrombolytic drugs.

The US Food and Drug Administration cleared the "ReVene Thrombectomy Catheter" under 510(k) number K201705 on 22 December 2020, six months after Vetex submitted it on 22 June 2020. The clearance is for "mechanical de-clotting and controlled and selected infusion of physician specified fluids, including thrombolytics, in the peripheral vasculature", not specifically for deep vein thrombosis. Surmodics reported CE marking in May 2021, and the CORDIS final report confirms both approvals and ISO 13485 certification by the notified body DQS.

What the Clinical Data Show

The VETEX first-in-human study, registered as NCT03489135, enrolled 19 patients with acute iliofemoral deep vein thrombosis at five hospitals in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Germany and Bulgaria between November 2018 and May 2021. One-year results presented at the VENOUS2021 meeting in March 2021 reported 100% procedural success, no device-related adverse events or major bleeding, and a median thrombectomy time of 23 minutes, according to Venous News. Six-month data shown at LINC 2021 reported that no thrombolytics were used in 89% of cases, according to Vascular News.

The study was small and single-arm, with no comparison against drug-based treatment or competing devices, and the results above come from company announcements of conference presentations. The CORDIS report says a manuscript had been "submitted for publication in a leading journal". A full peer-reviewed paper of the 19-patient study could not be found for this article; the only journal publication found is a single-patient case report by Gerard O'Sullivan in Vasa in 2021. A December 2025 Surmodics-sponsored supplement in Endovascular Today still cites the same 19-subject study as the device's clinical base.

What the EIC Project Promised, and What the Record Shows

The project's goal, according to CORDIS, was to generate the clinical data needed for approval in the US and Europe and to bring the technology "to market in both Europe and the US in 2021". The final report, last updated on CORDIS in October 2021, says the action "was successfully completed": the trial finished, manufacturing was optimised "for scaled production", and the approvals were won, "enabling market launch and commercialisation of the device".

The approvals were delivered on time. The 2021 market launch was not. After buying Vetex, Surmodics said process and manufacturing validations would run until early 2022 and clinical product evaluations would start later that year, according to its fiscal 2021 10-K. It ran limited market evaluations in fiscal 2023 and launched the device commercially, renamed the Pounce Venous Thrombectomy System, in the second quarter of its fiscal 2024, January to March 2024, according to its fiscal 2024 10-K and its June 2025 10-Q. Both filings describe a US launch; a European launch could not be verified. A Surmodics post-market follow-up study, CHOMP, was registered for 40 patients but was last listed as "not yet recruiting" in May 2024.

1. Complete the clinical studyDelivered19 patients, 12-month data, ClinicalTrials.gov and CORDIS.
2. FDA clearanceDeliveredK201705, 22 December 2020.
3. CE markDeliveredMay 2021, per Surmodics and CORDIS.
4. Market launch in the US in 2021LateLaunched January to March 2024, as Pounce Venous.
5. Market launch in Europe in 2021Not shownNo European launch announced.
6. Peer-reviewed study paperUnverifiedSubmitted per CORDIS; not found.

The Money

Vetex's own funding before the sale is barely documented. CB Insights names only the European Commission and Surmodics as its funders, and no venture round could be found in other sources. The exit is documented in detail. Surmodics paid $39.9 million upfront, funded from cash and $10 million drawn on its credit facility, with up to $7 million more, of which $3.5 million was guaranteed. Its filings show $1.8 million of the guaranteed amount paid in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024 and $1.8 million due in fiscal 2027; the other $3.5 million depends on product development and regulatory milestones with a deadline in fiscal 2027, and the June 2025 10-Q does not say whether any has been earned.

Measured against the €2.49 million grant, the exit value is large, but whether the device earned that price back is not public. Surmodics never reported Pounce Venous sales separately from its other devices in the filings reviewed for this article. In May 2026 Endologix bought the Pounce thrombectomy platform from Surmodics, a deal that closed on 18 May, according to Vascular News and the company's press release. Both describe only the arterial devices (Pounce LP, Pounce and Pounce XL) and do not mention the venous system that came from Vetex. Surmodics' homepage now links only to its coatings and related services. Who sells the former ReVene catheter today could not be verified. Endologix's parent company adopted the name Rhevera Medical in October 2026, according to Endovascular Today.

Why It Matters for Europe

Cardiovascular disease kills 1.7 million people a year in the EU and costs more than €282 billion a year, and on 16 December 2025 the European Commission unveiled the Safe Hearts Plan, its first EU plan for cardiovascular disease, according to the Commission's health pages. CORDIS counts deep vein thrombosis as the third most common cardiovascular disease, with 1.2 million cases diagnosed each year in the US and EU.

Vetex fits a familiar pattern for Irish medical device start-ups: European public money financed the clinical study and approvals, and the finished device and the team were then bought by a US company. The legal entity and its registered office stayed in County Galway. The commercial launch, the product's name and its later sale to Endologix were all decided in the United States.

The Verdict

Neither Vetex Medical, Surmodics nor Endologix was asked for comment for this article. It is based on public records and published statements, linked throughout.