(San Antonio, TX, June 29, 2006) – Seno Medical Instruments, Inc. is one step closer to moving breakthrough breast cancer diagnostic technology to the global marketplace. The San Antonio-based medical device company announced it has received more than $3 (M) dollars to launch commercial operations. This funding will allow the company to further develop patented laser optoacoustic breast imaging technology for commercial use by doctors and hospitals around the world. The target market for the breast cancer diagnostic technology is estimated to be $5.9 (B) billion dollars in North America alone.
Validation of the science has been confirmed repeatedly through peer review and more than $13 (M) million dollars in funding from the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense and the National Cancer Institute. The NCI recently awarded Seno Medical’s development partner, Fairway Medical Technologies, Inc., with a $1.1 (M) million dollar grant to expand the technology for prostate cancer applications.
Seno Medical’s development partner, Fairway Medical Technologies has been collaborating with the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston to further develop its proof-of -concept. The platform technology, which fuses light and ultrasound to create strong contrast between normal and cancerous tissues, has a multitude of potential applications. They include the diagnosis of ovarian, prostate, colorectal, bladder, and melanoma cancers. The technology will also have cardiovascular applications.
Seno’s CEO, Janet Campbell is one of the first woman CEO’s in the breast cancer imaging industry. She says, “More than 1.2 million women and men around the world will be diagnosed with breast cancer according to the World Health Organization. Our technology has the ability to detect cancer in its earliest stages without breast compression or exposure to x-ray. We are tremendously excited about the opportunity to bring this technology to patients everywhere.”
Ron Branstetter, President and COO of Seno Medical said, “I am excited about the quality of the technical and business teams we have assembled so that we may soon offer this state-of-the-art technology to physicians, hospitals and mammography centers.”
Ms. Campbell most recently served as President and COO of InforMedix, Inc, where she oversaw the company’s IPO and successfully hired the team that launched the company’s first commercial product. She also served as Chairman of the Board of Directors for Vascular Genetics, Inc. Ms. Campbell received her BA from the University of Missouri and her MBA from The Johns Hopkins University.
Seno is also pleased to announce that Dr. Robert Kramer, a recent nominee for surgeon general and a founding Board Member of the Susan G. Komen Foundation, has accepted the nomination to lead the Scientific Advisory Board. The Scientific Advisory Board will be comprised of experts in the field of breast cancer and will be actively involved in the company.
If you would like to know more about this breakthrough technology or would like to interview Seno Medical CEO, Janet Campbell, please contact Liz Bradford at 214-202-8830.