CraniUS, a Johns Hopkins spinout based in Baltimore, has pulled in $20 million to push forward a skull‑embedded implant built to deliver medicines straight into the brain. The company’s NeuroPASS system is designed to bypass the blood‑brain barrier and send microdoses into targeted tissue, a capability the founders say could reshape how glioblastoma and other chronic brain diseases are treated. The fresh funding gives the startup room to run as it moves from successful large‑animal studies toward manufacturing scale‑up and regulatory filings.
Funding and the local stake
CraniUS announced the Series B in a company release via PR Newswire, saying the $20 million will speed development of its NeuroPASS platform. The round follows a $20 million Series A in 2022 and, per state records, includes a $1 million Build Our Future grant from the Maryland Department of Commerce. Company materials state that the new capital is earmarked for regulatory submissions, manufacturing scale‑up and product testing on the road to commercialization.
How the implant works
NeuroPASS is described as a fully implantable, skull‑embedded platform that houses refillable reservoirs, a miniature pump, catheters and wireless charging, allowing clinicians to program targeted infusions, according to CraniUS. The system uses convection‑enhanced delivery, a pressure‑driven infusion technique intended to push medicines through brain tissue rather than relying on bloodstream delivery, as detailed in a recent review in PubMed Central. That distinction matters because the blood‑brain barrier prevents roughly 95% of conventional medicines from reaching the brain, a limitation researchers and patient groups have repeatedly pointed out, and CED is designed to sidestep that obstacle for specific regions of tissue.
Hopkins roots and leadership
CraniUS was co‑founded by Johns Hopkins neuroplastic surgeon Dr. Chad Gordon, who serves as chief medical officer and executive chair, and CTO Deborah Weidman, while Michael Maglin leads the company as CEO, the Baltimore Business Journal reports. The company says it holds a growing patent portfolio and leans on a Hopkins‑affiliated clinical advisory board to steer development. “This is not an incremental advance—it represents a fundamentally new approach to treating neurological disease and brain cancer,” Gordon said in the company’s announcement via PR Newswire.
What’s next for trials and the city
Local coverage notes that the new capital is expected to give CraniUS runway into 2027 while the startup scales manufacturing and prepares regulatory filings for first‑in‑human work, according to CityBiz. That timetable is deliberately cautious. Convection‑enhanced delivery has produced encouraging preclinical and early clinical results but has also run into technical and distribution challenges in larger human trials, so translating those gains into durable patient benefit will draw close scrutiny, the PubMed Central review notes. The Maryland Department of Commerce lists CraniUS as a Build Our Future grant recipient and says the $1 million award will help establish a Device Innovation Lab in Baltimore to prototype and test implantable hardware locally.
