Lead Investor Mercia, Along With Intuitive Ventures and Black Opal, Invests in Optellum’s Pioneering AI-Based Lung Health Technology
OXFORD, England and HOUSTON, September 27, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Optellum, a OxfordA New York-based medical technology company that provides a breakthrough AI platform to diagnose and treat early-stage lung cancer, has raised $14 million in a Series A funding round. The investment will allow Optellum to expand its base, operations and commercial launches in the UK and UNITED STATES; accelerate research and development; and extends its platform to personalized treatment decisions by integrating imaging data with molecular data, robotics and liquid biopsies.
Optellum is a commercial-stage lung health company that provides artificial intelligence-based decision support software that helps physicians establish early diagnosis and optimal treatment for their patients. The company was founded to ensure that every patient with lung disease is diagnosed and treated as early as possible, when the likelihood of better health is highest.
This round was led by Mercia, with additional investors Intuitive Ventures (Sunnyvale, CaliforniaUnited States) and Black Opal Ventures (New York, NY, UNITED STATES). Existing investors, including St. John’s College in the University of OxfordIQ Capital and the family office of Sir Martin & Lady Audrey Boisalso participated in this tour.
Lung cancer is the most common type of cancer and the leading cause of cancer death worldwide. About 150,000 people in United States and 1.8 million people worldwide die of lung cancer each year. The current global five-year survival rate is 20%, mainly because most patients are diagnosed after symptoms appear and the disease has progressed to an advanced stage (stage III or IV). On the other hand, the survival rate of small tumors treated at stage 1A reaches 90%. This disparity highlights a critical need for diagnosis and treatment at the earliest possible stage.
Optellum is the leader in AI-based lung cancer diagnostics, and the first and only medical technology company to obtain FDA, CE-MDR clearance in the EU and UKCA in the UK for its Virtual Nodule Clinic software platform. This first-of-its-kind platform can help doctors identify and track at-risk patients, and optimally diagnose signs of lung cancer at an early stage, so that treatment can be started sooner for affected patients. tumors and invasive procedures such as biopsies on benign lesions. can be minimized.
Jason PeterfieldCEO of Optellum, said: “With this strong support and commitment from highly specialized investors, we are well placed to accelerate the commercial roll-out in the UK and United States to expand our installed base. After years of research and clinical trials that have shown the impact of our software in diagnosing at-risk lung nodules, we are focused on expanding patient access to this crucial technology and identifying more rapid death of lung cancer in those most at risk. The funding will also boost our research and development with world-renowned institutions and partners to advance innovation. »
Lead investor Mercia brings expertise in software technologies with significant impact on global health issues and an existing portfolio that includes AI and machine learning technology.
Investment Director at Mercia, Stephen Johnsonsaid: “Optellum is the latest in a series of companies to channel research from world-renowned UK universities into commercially viable products that can make a difference in the delivery of medical care. After watching Optellum achieve great milestones over the years, we are now excited to be a part of their success and apply our experience with scaling software and tech companies to help accelerate the impact of Optellum on the lives of patients around the world. »
Intuitive Ventures, the independent venture capital arm of Intuitive (NASDAQ: ISRG), a global leader in medical robotics, including lung cancer care, was founded in 2020 to accelerate the future of mini care. -invasive. The investment team supports Optellum’s ambitions to think and move beyond early diagnosis to decision support throughout the treatment journey, integrating liquid biopsies, molecular testing and drug therapies .
“Lung cancer is an urgent public health crisis and Optellum’s breakthrough approach using AI to accelerate early detection and intervention could fundamentally change the healthcare community’s approach to tackling this. illness,” said Olivier Keown, MD, Managing Director of Intuitive Ventures. “Optellum is uniquely positioned to align and deliver tremendous value to patients, providers and payers. Intuitive Ventures is thrilled to provide its full arsenal of financial and strategic support to Optellum as we work towards a world of better outcomes for cancer patients.
The Black Opal Ventures fund, led by physicians and founded by women, is on a mission to build better businesses and better futures at the intersection of healthcare and technology. His expertise in reimbursement and health economics will help Optellum, which recently announced new outpatient payment classification technology for Medicare patients in the UNITED STATES.
Founder Tara BishopMD, said, “We value solutions that make medicine more accurate and accessible. The strong validation data behind the Optellum solution has demonstrated its ability to make a difference for patients. We share Optellum’s vision to make this accessible to all hospital physicians – and transform the lung cancer diagnosis and treatment journey.”
Optellum’s platform was developed and clinically validated in partnership with leading universities and healthcare systems around the world. Optellum also has strategic collaborations with GE Healthcare and Johnson & Johnson’s Lung Cancer Initiative to accelerate clinical deployments and continue platform advancement. In the UK, Optellum’s solution is being used to predict at-risk lung nodules in a multicentre study with NHS Trusts as part of a major investment in AI for healthcare.
About Optellum
Optellum is a commercial-stage lung health company that provides artificial intelligence-based decision support software that helps physicians establish early diagnosis and optimal treatment for their patients. The company was founded to ensure that every patient with lung disease is diagnosed and treated as early as possible, when the likelihood of better health is highest. In 2021, the OxfordThe New York-based medical technology company has obtained 510(k) clearance from the FDA for the application of AI-based decision support software in the diagnosis of lung cancer, and has since announced strategic partnerships in the UNITED STATES with GE Healthcare and Johnson & Johnson’s Lung Cancer Initiative, while the Virtual Nodule Clinic has been implemented in major healthcare systems across the UNITED STATES. Optellum is headquartered at the Oxford Center for Innovation in Oxford, United Kingdom and a US office at Texas Medical Center in Houston, TX. For more information, visit optellum.com or follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.
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