OSRAM investment and start-up company iThera Medical, optimistic about medical diagnostic market

A few days ago, OSRAM venture capital Fluxunit and venture capital joint venture company Bayern Kapital's Wachstumsfonds Bayern jointly invested in iThera Medical, a medical video start-up company.

The start-up company is headquartered in Munich, active in the field of photoacoustic imaging for medical diagnostics, and developed the so-called MSOT Technology (multispectral photoacoustic tomography). MSOT is a laser technology which can identify tumors and inflammatory diseases easily and accurately without invasive operation.

In addition to Fluxunit and Wachstumsfonds Bayern, existing investors BayBG Bayerische Beteiligungsgesellschaft and family management room EXTOREL participated in the 7 million euro financing. IThera Medical plans to use this new fund to continue developing its MSOT system and extending it to the clinical market.

IThera's MSOT technology uses the so-called photoacoustic effect -- converting light energy into sound waves -- to characterize and distinguish all kinds of body tissues and transform the collected information into 3D images. Compared with the existing imaging models, MSOT can display and quantify the concentration and spatial distribution of biomarkers (such as hemoglobin, melanin, water and lipid) for the first time.

Therefore, MSOT allows doctors to diagnose diseases with higher specificity, non invasiveness and real-time. In many cases, such diagnosis can only be achieved through invasive surgery, including endoscopy or biopsy. Of particular importance is the ability of MSOT to monitor and treat chronic inflammatory diseases such as Crohn's disease, or to identify tumor tissues (such as breast cancer). With its technology, iThera has set up a new standard for medical diagnosis.

Fluxunit's managing director, Ulrich Eisele, explains that this light based technology can help doctors diagnose more easily and accurately, so that patients are free from surgery and save a lot of money for the health care system. OSRAM has long been active in the field of medical application lighting, such as microscopy and endoscopy.

Bavaria finance minister Franz Josef Pschierer welcomed Wachstumsfonds Bayern's investment in iThera Medical: "we want to expand our leadership in medical technology, and Wachstumsfonds Bayern has played an important role in it." (Editor: LED net James)

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