Summary
- Profile Type
- Technology offer
- POD Reference
- TODE20230809009
- Term of Validity
- 9 August 2023 - 8 August 2025
- Company's Country
- Germany
- Type of partnership
- Investment agreement
- Research and development cooperation agreement
- Commercial agreement with technical assistance
- Targeted Countries
- All countries
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General information
- Short Summary
- Cancer is one of the most common causes of death in Europe. A start-up from northern Germany has developed a nanosensor that can be injected into the cancer tumour with a needle and checks in real time whether the selected (chemo)therapy is successful. The start-up is looking for investors to further develop the successful prototype and support subsequent market access, as well as patients, doctors and hospitals who are willing to test the prototype.
- Full Description
-
Problem description:
Every second person in western countries is expected to suffer from any kind of cancer in his or her life.
And almost a third of these persons face the diagnosis of metastatic solid tumors that can no longer be treated curatively. In this case further growth can be prevented only for a limited period of time by means of palliative systemic therapy.
Examples are:
- treatments with classical chemotherapies (CTx)
- targeted therapies by means of monoclonal antibodies (mAb's)
- or small molecule agents and immunotherapies (ICI).
There are two conditions hindering the functionality of these therapies.
1. A bodies’ response to these therapies can be very variable and follows to some extend a trial and error principle.
2. All of these therapy options are affecting and stressing the entire body.
Monitoring if a therapy is having a positive impact is performed mainly by means of medical imaging techniques such as computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) which have a limited frequency of application due to collateral side effects and high operational costs. In a nutshell: After an average time of 8-12 weeks, it is possible to make a statement if a therapy is successful, by accepting collateral side effects and high operational costs.
Approach:
The start-up from northern Germany aims to reduce the time it takes to detect a therapies’ efficacy with a novel miniaturized sensor implant.
Interstitial fluid pressure as well as the temperature in the tumour tissue drop, when a chemotherapy succeeds.
Based on these preliminary studies, developed a novel miniaturized sensor implant, usable with biopsy needles. The implant transmits information about the tumors’ temperature and fluid pressure development in real time. This way the therapies’ impact may be tracked much faster than available alternatives. The approach seeks to establish a new standard for the treatment of solid tumors.
A prototype exists, laboratory test results prove the positive impact. The client now takes a next step and searches for in vivo testing. - Advantages and Innovations
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- Time: Current cancer therapies need at least 8-12 weeks to make a statement about a therapies’ effectiveness. The clients’ technology enables a detection of therapy impact in real-time. The patient knows after a couple of days, if the therapy needs to be adjusted or changed.
- Financial: More information at an earlier point of time lead to fewer necessary operations, which saves money and time for all actors involved (hospitals, doctors, health insurances, patients).
- Wellbeing: More therapy approaches may be tried in significantly less time. The time period where patients face stress and are suffering is shortened and the chance of finding timely the right therapy is increased. As a result more lifes can be saved. - Stage of Development
- Lab tested
- Sustainable Development Goals
- Goal 3: Good Health and Well-being
- IPR status
- Secret know-how
Partner Sought
- Expected Role of a Partner
-
Enterprises from the following areas are sought for cooperation:
- doctors and hospitals
- medical technology in general
- enterprises related to breast cancer
- mammography equipment manufacturers
- biopsy needle manufacturers
Role of the partners:
- Linking to cancer patients who are willing to test the prototype
- Financial support and assistance - Type and Size of Partner
- R&D Institution
- University
- Big company
- SME 11-49
- SME 50 - 249
- SME <=10
- Type of partnership
- Investment agreement
- Research and development cooperation agreement
- Commercial agreement with technical assistance
Dissemination
- Technology keywords
- 06001013 - Medical Technology / Biomedical Engineering
- 06004 - Micro- and Nanotechnology related to Biological sciences
- 06001005 - Diagnostics, Diagnosis
- Market keywords
- 05001001 - Diagnostic services
- 03007002 - Other measuring devices
- 05002005 - Other medical imaging
- 05003003 - Surgical implants
- Sector Groups Involved
- Digital
- Health
- Electronics
- Targeted countries
- All countries