Lightpoint Medical, a medical device company developing miniaturized cancer detection tools for robot-assisted surgery, announced today that it has completed an $8 million financing round. The funding includes follow-on investment from private investors, Oxford Technology, Venture Founders, Coutts Bank, and new funding from the British Business Bank Future Fund, bringing the total raised by the company to $18 million.
The new capital will be used to finance expanded clinical trials and early commercialization of Lightpoint’s robotic probe, SENSEI®, which has the potential to assist in over 2 million applicable surgical procedures every year in the EU, US, China and Japan.
SENSEI® received CE Mark approval at the beginning of the year, has been registered successfully with the FDA, and has received approval for sale in Australia.
Lightpoint has secured commercial distribution deals for SENSEI® in Spain, Portugal, and Australia. With more contracts to be announced in the forthcoming months, Lightpoint intends to establish a global distribution network by the end of 2021.
Clinical trials of SENSEI® in robotic surgery are ongoing in prostate and cervical cancer with new studies in lung cancer planned for the second half of the year.
Dr. David Tuch, CEO of Lightpoint Medical commented: “We’re grateful to the British Business Bank and many of our previous shareholders for investing in the round and reaffirming their commitment to Lightpoint. This fundraising follows the US and European market clearance for our SENSEI® robotic probe and will enable us to further expand our clinical program and prepare for early commercial development of the technology. Our growing network of commercial distributors will help Lightpoint reach surgeons and nuclear physicians worldwide seeking a better way to perform targeted robotic cancer surgery.”
About Lightpoint Medical
Lightpoint Medical is developing miniaturized imaging and sensing tools for intra-operative cancer detection. The company is addressing the urgent medical challenge that despite technological advances in robotic platforms, surgeons lack the tools to accurately detect cancer intra-operatively. As a result, cancer is often left behind or more healthy tissue than needed is removed, increasing the need for adjuvant therapies, causing post-surgical complications, and escalating healthcare costs.
By exploiting advances in miniaturized sensor technologies and the development of cancer-targeted diagnostic imaging agents, Lightpoint is developing miniature tools appropriate in scale for minimally-invasive and robot-assisted surgery to accurately detect cancer in real-time intra-operatively. The aims of the tools are to aid surgical decision making, improve patient outcomes and save costs for healthcare systems.
Lightpoint has a pipeline of miniaturized surgical tools in development with the first, SENSEI®, recently approved for sale by regulators in the US, EU and Australia. The first commercial focus is prostate cancer surgery with a planned expansion into other solid tumor types.
For more information about the company visit: www.lightpointmedical.com; www.senseisurgical.com and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.
