Michelson Diagnostics' shareholders to invest £1.912M in OCT technology

Nov. 14, 2011

Shareholders of Michelson Diagnostics will invest £1.912 million in the company’s patented multi-beam optical coherence tomography (OCT) technology, which can image skin and other surface tissue with unprecedented high resolution.

Shareholders of Michelson Diagnostics (Orpington, England) will invest £1.912 million in the company’s patented multi-beam optical coherence tomography (OCT) technology, which can image skin and other surface tissue with unprecedented high resolution. The funds—from Octopus Investments (London, England), Catapult Venture Managers (Leicester, England), and individual investors from London Business Angels—will be used to expand sales and support infrastructure in the U.S. and Europe to meet growing demand for the technology.

The company’s first product based on its OCT technology, the VivoSight scanner for noninvasive diagnosis and treatment of non-melanoma skin cancer, enables clinicians to 'see' under the skin surface in real time, helping them decide whether to treat a lesion, what treatment to use, and to show them how far a tumor has spread. This is expected to make non-melanoma skin cancer treatment more efficient and cost-effective, and to be better for the patient by reducing unnecessary surgery. The product has already earned CE and FDA regulatory clearance for clinical use in Europe and the U.S., and has entered commercial service at dermatology clinics in the U.S. and Germany. Looking to the future, the product also has the potential to guide and monitor the use of next generation of noninvasive topical treatments for non-melanoma skin cancer that are currently in clinical development.

Although the company's main focus is on non-melanoma skin cancer, during the year it also announced preliminary findings that suggest its technology could provide a breakthrough in the early detection of psoriatic arthritis, a common complication of psoriasis.

Simon Andrews led the deal on behalf of Octopus. Funds were provided from the Octopus Titan VCT funds, the Eureka EIS Portfolio Service, Octopus Venture Partners, Advantage Enterprise & Innovation Fund, and individual investors.

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