Ekos Corp. has scored $12.5 million in new funding, with plans to raise another $2 million as it strives for profitability in late 2010. The Bothell medical device company sells a $2,700 ultrasound-based catheter that is used to dissolve blood clots in the legs.

Chief Executive Bob Hubert said the 115-person company has sold about 10,000 of the devices since it was commercialized three years ago. In development for more than a decade, Hubert said the device can remove clots as small as two centimeters and as large as 50 centimeters. The device works by utilizing ultrasound, making it easier for a drug to dissolve the clot.

"The ultrasound opens up the fibers of the clot and makes it very permeable," he said. The procedure takes about eight to 12 hours to remove the clot, depending on its age an size.

"The real key was taking two proven technologies -- ultrasound and the drug -- and combining the two and miniaturizing it so you could deliver the ultrasound with a catheter," Hubert said. "That was the huge development. That's why it took 10 years."

More than $100 million has been invested in the company since it was co-founded by former 3M Health and Physio Control manager Douglas Hansmann

Xconomy has more details on the company, noting competitors such as Wilmington, Mass.-based OmniSonics Medical Technologies and Santa Clara, Calif.-based Bacchus Vascular.

The deal was led by Crown Venture Fund, with participation from existing investors such as MedVenture Associates, CID Capital, Ascension Health Ventures and others.

In addition to the device for deep vein thrombosis, Ekos is developing a product (currently in clinical trials in the U.S. and available in Europe) for ischemic stroke.