Project description
Novel catheter-based lung-cancer treatment in the tradition of angioplasty and arthroscopy
Cancer treatments vary depending on the type, stage, and aggressiveness of the cancer as well as on co-morbidities. Lung cancer is typically treated with surgery to remove the cancer or chemotherapy or radiation therapy to kill the cancerous cells, but these treatments are hard on the patient and involve extended durations for recovery from the treatments themselves. The Irish company ENDOWAVE Ltd has developed a patented microwave device that can be fed through a catheter into a patient's airways to reach the tumour site. Microwave heating is used to kill cancerous cells in a single minimally invasive office procedure. EU funding of the ENDOWAVE project is helping the company develop the foundations required for commercialisation.
Objective
Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer deaths in the EU and worldwide with more than 0.4M people diagnosed each year. It has a dismal 5 year survival rate of just 18% and worldwide someone dies of lung cancer every 30 seconds. The impact of the disease on public health is substantial with > 6M hospital admissions in Europe each year (>€18 billion in economic costs). Surgery has been shown to provide a curative solution, but only 20-30% of patients can undergo surgery due to co-morbidities.
ENDOWAVE have developed a pioneering device, designed to destroy the targeted tumour in a single, minimally invasive intervention. The patented technology uses a flexible catheter system, which can be navigated through the patient’s airway to deliver targeted microwave heating to the tumour. This will enable physicians provide a curative treatment that can be delivered in an outpatient setting, improving patient outcomes and reducing costs to healthcare system.
The global market opportunity for lung cancer exceeds €3.6 billion. This SME Phase 1 Instrument funding will enable ENDOWAVE to complete detailed feasibility and business planning activities that will provide a platform for commercialisation of the technology. This will enable ENDOWAVE to enter the market, where we forecast revenues of €60 million by Year 5 based on conservative market penetration forecasts. This project will lead to job generation within ENDOWAVE and the associated supply chain.
Ultimately, ENDOWAVE seeks to improve outcomes for lung cancer patients by providing a curative treatment, which can be delivered in a single minimally invasive procedure.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1Coordinator
D02D K18 Dublin
Ireland
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.