PHIRE will pursue a long-lasting transformation impact on Technology, Society, Economy, Environment, and Educational ground, and important economic and societal benefits. PHIRE will have an impact on several market segments, such as photoacoustic imaging and ultrasound devices, nanoparticles, cystoscopes and endoscopes. Together these market segments have an important forecasted annual growth rate, which in 2020 is estimated at more than $ 30 billion.
PHIRE will also have an important socio-economic impact, by reducing the bladder cancer relapse in 75% of patients and reducing the economic burden of bladder cancer by $ 500 million/year.
Characterization Tables for the 2 Key Exploitable Results (KER) were prepared to assess their market features. The characterisation table is designed to collect information that will be then reviewed and further integrated during the project life. It includes the description of the problem the potential users of that solution have, the alternative solutions the early adopters have used so far, the unique value proposition, a description of the solution, the target market, and the go-to-market strategy.
Concerning the implementation of the technological device (KER1), we searched for the prior art by scouting available publications and patents. We identified that the combination of a technological device together with an artificial intelligence-based software that will assist clinicians in the detection and treatment of small bladder cancer lesions is novel and with high chance of protection.
Concerning the targeted GNRs (KER2):
-PHIRE partners UNIBO and OSR filed a patent in March 2024 about the targeted GNRs.
-The partner UNIBO has engaged the company Di Renzo Regulatory Affairs, a leading company in the field of regulatory consulting, to identify critical steps and amend the production of the nanoparticles according to regulatory needs.
-The PHIRE consortium has also taken advantage of the services provided by the EIC Tech to Market (T2M) Program; the workshops and the summary provided by the T2M were concluded in April 2024.
-Next, the PHIRE consortium has also taken advantage of another opportunity provided by the EIC T2M Venture Building Team; the PHIRE consortium and the T2M started the process of Freedom To Operate (FTO).
For the 2 KERs, we identified and agreed upon the business model.
All the above activities were relevant to assess the next needs and the related budget. The business plan of the 2 KERs is in constant evolution and the first draft will be available in February 2025. Nonetheless, the PHIRE consortium is already considering the creation of a spin-off, by which to raise the budget from the public (EIC Accelerator programme) and/or private stakeholders for the validation of the PHIRE solution in the clinical scenario.
To have a spin-off of interest for the stakeholders the spin-off has to include in his portfolio:
- Proof of concept of the foreground
- IPR and FTO
- Field of application
- Target market
- Key Opinion leaders on board
All the above points have already been delivered and evaluated. Furthermore, the team of the partner OSR includes the active presence of a key opinion leader in the field of urology, who is Dr. Marco Moschini; he is the author of over 400 scientific works published in indexed international journals (source: PubMed), a Reviewer of the main scientific journals in the urological and oncology field including the Lancet, Cancer, European Urology, The Journal of Urology, and British Journal of Urology international. He is the coordinator of the bladder cancer group of the Young Academic Urologists Working Parties of the EAU and is part of the international bladder cancer group (IBCG) and of the European guidelines on bladder cancer.
