Intersect ENT, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based innovator in treatment solutions for ear, nose and throat clinicians and their patients, has completed the initial closing of a $30 million Series D round of funding. The financing will be used to continue the rapid commercial expansion in the U.S. for the company's PROPEL and PROPEL mini sinus implants and to fund clinical studies of the company's latest product, an office-based treatment for chronic sinusitis sufferers.

The round was led by new investor Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) and drew participation from all of Intersect ENT's existing significant investors, including Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, U.S. Venture Partners, PTV Sciences and Medtronic.

"We are excited to add Norwest Venture Partners as a new investor and are grateful for the continued support of our existing investors in this round," said Lisa Earnhardt, president and CEO of Intersect ENT.  "We see the difference our products have made in patients' lives every day and that is what drives us to innovate. Our goal is to improve the quality of life for millions of chronic sinusitis sufferers."

Casper de Clercq, partner at Norwest Venture Partners and new member of the board of Intersect, said, "We are impressed with Intersect ENT's rapid pace of innovation and commercialization. The company has garnered an impressive body of clinical data as well as two FDA approvals in just over one year, and its latest product is already in clinical trials. We look forward to having a seat at the table during this exciting next stage of growth for the company."

Intersect ENT recently initiated RESOLVE, a prospective, randomized, blinded, multi-center clinical trial to study the use of the company's newest steroid delivery implant for patients with chronic sinusitis. The new product is placed during a routine physician office visit as an alternative to revision sinus surgery for patients with recurrent sinus obstruction. Like the company's PROPEL and PROPEL mini implants used in the operating room setting to improve surgical outcomes, the product releases mometasone furoate, an advanced steroid with anti-inflammatory properties, directly into the sinus lining to resolve inflammation. More than 6,000 patients have been treated with PROPEL to date.