RefleXion Medical raises $46 million to develop pioneering cancer therapy

Medical equipment specialist RefleXion Medical has raised a total of $45 million in series B round funding.

The Hayward, US-based firm will put the money towards developing its first-in-class biology-guided radiotherapy (BgRT) system for treating cancer.

The technology utilises both CT and PET imaging data to deliver targeted radiotherapy based on an individual's anatomical and functional biology. The result is a variant of radiotherapy that can deliver higher doses of radiation in a more targeted fashion and to multiple tumours at once.

"PET has been an effective tool to help diagnose and stage cancer using a radiotracer to map the higher metabolic activity of cancerous lesions," said Dr Samuel Mazin, co-founder and president of RefleXion. "With this metabolic map, we could track multiple tumours in real time and precisely deliver targeted therapy based on that patient's individual biology."

Jay Watkins, chairman of RefleXion, also shared his thoughts: "This major financing, along with the collective support, vision and guidance of Sofinnova Partners, Pfizer and Venrock, will allow the company to achieve the development and regulatory milestones preceding a commercial launch of this paradigm-changing technology."

Not only does RefleXion's BgRT platform offer both greater and multiple targeting of tumours, it also offers the prospect of informing further treatment decisions based on factors such as tumour hypoxia and specific genetic markers.

The funding round included various investors led by KCK Group, including the likes of existing series A investors Pfizer Venture Investments, Venrock and RefleXion's current largest shareholder, Sofinnova Partners.