Seno Medical Instruments raised $34.6 million of a planned $39 million Series C equity funding round. The company will use the funds for a pivotal U.S. study of its breast cancer diagnostic device and to obtain CE mark approval for the device in Europe, it said in a statement.
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| Seno CEO Janet Campbell--Courtesy of Seno Medical Instruments |
MedCare Investment Funds led the round, with existing investors making additional contributions. Funding will help the San Antonio, TX-based company develop its Imagio breast imaging device, which is currently being tested in 16 U.S. hospitals and imaging centers. The device combines innovative optoacoustic technology with existing ultrasound technology to provide a blood map around suspicious breast masses. Imagio offers an alternative to traditional breast cancer diagnostics, as it does not expose patients to x-rays or injectable contrast agents.
The device may also save patients time and money, Dr. Harry Jacobsen, chairman of MedCare Investment Funds, said in a statement. Every year, 1.7 million women in the U.S. undergo core needle or surgical breast biopsies after a suspicious mass is uncovered--but up to four out of 5 biopsies come back negative.
"Breast biopsies, the current standard of care for diagnosing or ruling out cancer, are the most expensive part of the breast cancer diagnostic process. By providing a real-time blood map co-registered with ultrasound images, we believe that optoacoustics can provide radiologists more information than ever before to help them confidently rule out cancer so that fewer women with benign lesions will have to undergo biopsies and the worry that can come from the process," Jacobsen said.
Seno's Imagio device (diagram courtesy of Seno) represents an innovation in the market, but the company is not alone in its efforts to uncover a simplified diagnostic: In 2012, scientists at the University of Twente and Medisch Spectrum Twente Hospital in the Netherlands began testing a new clinical device that uses photoacoustics--or light-induced sound--to detect and visualize breast tumors. Later that year, GE Healthcare ($GE) snatched up U-Systems--a California-based diagnostic company whose automated breast ultrasound system was making waves as an alternative diagnostic tool.
With big names entering the market, Seno would have much to gain from regulatory approval. If all goes according to plan, the company hopes to secure a CE mark for its breast cancer imaging device by the end of 2014, CEO Janet Campbell said in a statement.
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