SamanTree Medical, committed to reducing the need for cancer surgery re-operation particularly in breast surgery, announced today the successful closing of its CHF 9.5 million Series A financing.

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Image: SamanTree Medical raises CHF 9.5m to assess margins in cancer surgery. Photo: Courtesy of SamanTree Medical SA.

Proceeds will be used to commercialize the patented Histolog system, notably the recently CE mark Histolog Scanner v2, for enabling precise tumor removal at first surgery.

Panakès Partners, the Medtech European leading venture capital mixing strong corporate and investment expertise, has led this round, alongside the Sioux Tech Fund, the venture arm of Sioux Technologies, a company with expertise in high-tech manufacturing, software development and data analytics. Existing shareholders and new investors BOM Brabant Ventures and btov Partners were participating as well.

“The timing is impeccable with the recently awarded European project, we are combining the right supports for executing on our mission to bring the gold standard in the Operating Room” said CEO and Co-Founder Bastien Rachet. The European Innovation Council awarded SamanTree Medical with EUR 2.3 million grant in September 2018, via its H2020 SME’s Instrument Program.

More than 500,000 lumpectomies are performed annually in the USA and Europe alone and up to 25% require re-operation. Additional operation is a burden for the patient and it increases the stress relative to the treatment; it also results in annual costs of $2.7 billion. Surgeons face a difficult trade-off: maximize confidence in removal of the entire tumor and minimize removal of healthy tissue. The “Gold Standard” for margin assessment is histopathology microscopy – these laboratory results, however, aren’t available until days after surgery. Surgeons need faster support for margin assessment in the operating room, ideally in real-time and with accuracy comparable to this “Gold Standard”.

SamanTree’s Histolog is the only solution that enables a global mapping of a lumpectomy for full margin control with histology-grade confidence in few minutes before closing the incision. With this innovative and highly practical imaging modality, the clinician is one touch-on-the-screen away from visualizing cancerous cell on a surgical specimen immediately during surgery. Enhancing the decision-making process during the surgery, this solution carries the promise of a better patient care, by increasing the confidence in a complete tumor removal at first surgery.

Source: Company Press Release.