RefleXion Medical, which is developing a biologically guided radiotherapy platform for targeted cancer treatment, raised more than $100 million in a series C round of funding.
The round was led by The Rise Fund, which is managed by TPG Growth. Other investors in the round included T. Rowe Price Associates, China-focused healthcare investment firm GT Healthcare Capital Partners and all existing investors including Sofinnova Partners, KCK Group, Venrock and corporate investors Pfizer Venture Investments and Johnson & Johnson Innovation.
Hayward, Calif.-based RefleXion is developing a device that transforms radiation therapy—which has long been used to treat localized cancer—into a new option for patients whose tumors have metastasized.
“Current systems have significant limitations our platform addresses,” Todd Powell, RefleXion’s chief executive, said in a statement. “We believe many of the 600,000 U.S. patients with metastatic cancer each year could benefit from our unique ability to accurately irradiate multiple tumors in the same session. Another 750,000 U.S. patients diagnosed annually with early stage disease may benefit from our system automatically compensating for tumor motion while precisely targeting the disease.”
Traditionally, radiation therapy takes two steps: MR or CT imaging, which shows physicians where to deliver radiation, and the radiation itself. RefleXion combines positron emission tomography (PET) imaging and radiation in one device. It uses PET imaging to locate tumors, where a radioactive tracer collects. The tracer continuously emits signals, which serve as targets for radiation beams.