Optical coherence tomography (OCT) medical device maker Michelson Diagnostics (Orpington, England) has closed its Series A2 financing round, raising $3.25 million (£1.98 million) from existing investors. Purposes for the funding include expansion of the company's VivoSight multi-beam OCT imaging system sales in Germany, where the system was launched in mid-2011 and where it is reimbursed for use in diagnosing non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC). The company also will invest further in the development of a compact, more portable, second-generation VivoSight system, with an anticipated lower cost of manufacture and enhanced functionality. And part of the funding will be used to initiate U.S. market access with a pilot clinical study planned.
Related: BiOS 2013: Interview with Jon Holmes of Michelson Diagnostics
VivoSight uses the company's multi-beam OCT technology to noninvasively view all the layers of the skin in real time and in high definition. The system currently has regulatory clearance in Europe and Australia and FDA clearance in the U.S. Use of the system in Germany since its launch has grown rapidly, with more than 2,500 scan procedures performed by December 2013 at 10 clinics. The company is now entering the Australian and Swiss markets.
The company is also generating Level 1 Clinical Evidence of the value of OCT in the diagnosis of NMSC. Interim data from the company's prospective multicenter study is very promising; positive results from the trial are expected to accelerate the adoption of VivoSight as a diagnostic tool and to aid the company in achieving reimbursement in the U.S. and elsewhere. The trial is expected to complete in the first quarter of 2014 and full results will be presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology, to take plave March 21-24, 2014, in Denver, CO.
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