Dive Brief:
- Veran Medical Technologies has been awarded two U.S. patents for its 4D respiratory tracking technology that enables its SPiN Thoracic Navigation System to track a patient's respiration during procedures that diagnose patients with lung cancer in one procedure instead of what traditionally requires several procedures to obtain a diagnosis.
- The company moved to St. Louis in 2013 after closing a $4.75 million venture capital round led by Prolog Ventures.
- It also completed a $41.7 million financing round in October to support the company's commercial expansion in the U.S. and international markets. To date, it's raised more than $50 million.
Dive Insight:
According to the company website, the SpiN Thoracic Navigation System is an electromagnetic navigation platform that allows physicians to biopsy Solitary Pulmonary Nodules (SPNs) for potential early diagnosis of lung cancer. The system provides visualization, navigation and real-time confirmation of nodule location.
The American Cancer Society latest statistics for lung cancer estimate 221,200 new cases diagnosed in 2015 and an estimated 158,040 deaths. Almost two out of three people diagnosed with lung cancer are age 65 or older.