Prothea Technologies raises €12M to innovate lung cancer diagnosis

Lung cancer is the third most common form of cancer in the U.S. and annually claims more lives than breast, prostate and colon cancer combined. Screening programmes aim to facilitate the early detection of suspicious lesions, but delivering value from these initiatives requires a significant increase in biopsy performance, presenting a challenge for hospitals already grappling with low biopsy yields and false negatives.

With the closing of the Series A financing, Prothea has in-licensed several patents from the Universities of Edinburgh and Bath to progress their programmes into the clinical phase. Prothea is developing a medical device consisting of a Microendoscope combined with an Image Processing System, which enhances visualisation by providing in situ analysis of lesion structure at a molecular level. Further R&D is planned to develop a laser ablation catheter for the treatment of lesions immediately following visualisation and biopsy. The integration of these two systems (real-time imaging and ablation) will streamline biopsy and treatment into a single hospital visit, reducing time-to-treat from weeks to minutes, thereby relieving hospital pressures and improving patient outcomes.

The financing proceeds will allow Prothea to initiate its FIH clinical trial for the imaging and biopsy device in patients with potentially cancerous lung lesions and progress the FIH for the therapeutic laser ablation catheter. The Company’s clinical pipeline includes an advanced program supported by Wellcome, evaluating Prothea’s technologies to identify lung infections in intensive care patients, enabling earlier selection of optimal drug therapy.

Additional R&D programmes will integrate its Imaging Processing System with robotic surgery systems and other medical imaging modalities. Prothea’s Image Processing Systems measure the differential in time, between healthy and abnormal tissue, for the round trip of light from the laser source and back again. Proprietary software will be developed, enhanced by artificial intelligence, to evaluate these large volume data sets to develop real-time in-procedure insight, supporting clinical decisions.

The Company is led by CEO and exec-Chair Crispin Simon, formerly President of Smith and Nephew’s Endoscopy Division, and CSO/CMO Prof. Kev Dhaliwal, Professor of Molecular Imaging & Healthcare Technology and Consultant in Respiratory Medicine at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.

In addition to the Company representatives, the board of directors is joined by Charles Carignan MD, formerly CMO at Boston Scientific Endosurgery and CEO of several venture-backed companies, Peter Stratford, formerly CTO of BTG plc, Dr John Yianni representing Earlybird Venture Capital, Dr Yoann Bonnamour representing Merieux Equity Partners, and Dr Thomas Raueiser representing NRW.BANK.

Crispin Simon, CEO, states: “We’re delighted to have been able to combine a great team, multiple technology innovations and a strong investment syndicate, and look forward to putting our products at the service of doctors and their patients.”

Prof. Kev Dhaliwal, CMO and CSO, says: “Molecular-level data capture, combined with immediate therapy, holds huge potential in basic science and patient therapy. I’m grateful to the funders who have backed us over the years.”

Dr John Yianni, Partner at Earlybird Venture Capital, comments: “Earlybird Health supports companies dedicated to advancing patient outcomes, and Prothea’s innovative approach to early visualisation, diagnosis, and treatment of lung cancer aligns perfectly with our mission.”

Dr Yoann Bonnamour, Director at Merieux Equity Partners, adds: “Mérieux Equity Partners is always interested in multi-disciplinary platforms, and we’re impressed with how Prothea’s photonics technology gives doctors valuable insight at the molecular level.”
MB Bureau