Veran Medical
Oct 20, 2014
ST. LOUIS, MO – October 20, 2014 – Veran Medical Technologies, a market leader in thoracic navigation for early detection of lung cancer, announced today the completion of a $12M financing to support the Company’s continued commercial expansion in the U.S. and international launch of the Veran Thoracic Navigation System™. A strong syndicate of private institutional investors, including Prolog Ventures, led the financing. “We are very excited to partner with strong financial investors who recognize the potential of our Thoracic Navigation System™ to impact lung cancer survival rates,” said Jason Pesterfield, President and CEO of Veran Medical Technologies. “The development of a Thoracic Navigation System™ that combines electromagnetic navigation bronchoscopy (ENB) and the Veran SPiNPerc™ navigated percutaneous lung biopsy procedure is groundbreaking. The Thoracic Navigation System enables physicians to biopsy lung nodules whether they are inside or outside the airways with a single system in one procedure.” “Lung cancer is a global health care issue and Veran is a key partner in the fight through early detection. Veran’s strong commercial progress in 2014 is a testament to the management team and the company’s ability to transform the way lung cancer is managed,” noted Curt Hartman, Chairman of the Veran Medical Board of Directors. Lung cancer causes more deaths in men and women than colon, breast and prostate cancer combined1. If lung cancer is diagnosed at Stage III or IV, the five-year survival rate is only 15%2. With early detection, there can be an 88% survival rate at ten years and a 92% survival rate with the immediate removal of the lesion3. Prior to the development of Veran’s Thoracic Navigation System, only 16% of lung cancer patients have been diagnosed at an early stage3.
Veran is a privately held medical device company headquartered in St. Louis, MO. The company’s mission is to empower physicians to diagnose cancer earlier and to enable precision therapy to save lives. In the United States, lung cancer kills more people each year than breast, prostate, pancreatic and colon cancers combined.
Veran has developed and commercialized an FDA cleared, next generation electromagnetic thoracic navigation platform called the SPiN Thoracic Navigation System®. Veran’s breakthrough technology has been adopted by leading cancer centers throughout the United States. Veran provides physicians with a full line of bronchoscopic brushes, needles, forceps and steerable catheters with tiny electromagnetic sensors embedded in the tips for precise navigation. The combination of these proprietary Always-On Tip Tracked® instruments and Veran’s exclusive patient respiratory gating technology enables physicians to accurately access lung nodules by accounting for nodule movement during patient breathing, a common challenge for lung specialists.
Another challenge lung specialists face is that approximately 40% of lung nodules lie outside of an airway, making them very difficult to reach endobronchially, and traditionally requiring an additional procedure. Veran’s SPiN Thoracic Navigation System® is the first and only FDA cleared technology that enables Pulmonologists or Thoracic Surgeons to safely and accurately access lung nodules outside of an airway using SPiN Perc®, a navigated transthoracic needle. With SPiN Perc®, Veran combines endobronchial navigation with percutaneous navigation, allowing physicians to access all lung nodules in a single procedure, regardless of nodule size or location. This eliminates the cost and risk of unnecessary procedures and empowers physicians to provide a same day diagnosis for their patients. The early diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer has been proven to save lives.
American College of Chest Physicians www.chestnet.org/lungcancer
The International Early Lung Cancer Action Program Investigators. Survival of patients with stage I lung cancer detected on CT screening. The New England Journal of Medicine 2006; 355:1763-1771.
Ries L, Eisner M, Kosary C, et al. SEER Cancer Statistics Review, 1975-2003, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda MD, http://seer.cancer.gov/csr/1975_2003/.