A major investment in a Melbourne-based healthcare technology developer will underpin the launch of a world-first live microscopic imaging device for oral cancer.
Optiscan Imaging has developed a miniaturised, handheld technology that allows cancer and other diseases to be diagnosed through high resolution digital imaging, providing greater accuracy, and preventing the need for painful, scarring biopsies.
The Australian company has secured $16.7m million in funding, led by backing from Peters Investments Pty Ltd and Orchid Capital Investments Pte. Ltd.
The investment will underpin the next phase of Optiscan’s growth as the Mulgrave-headquartered team prepares to bring its first digital pathology system to market in 2024.
Announcing the new investment, Optiscan CEO and Managing Director Dr Camile Farah said we are witnessing a transformative moment for a sector that has remained largely unchanged for a century.
“After twenty years of technological development at Optiscan, this is a breakthrough moment as we prepare to make digital, real-time pathology available to the public,” Dr Farah said.
Optiscan’s InVivage device is progressing through regulatory approvals and anticipated to be launched in the US in 2024, with other regions including Australia to follow soon after.
Farah said, “Optiscan technology offers a way for doctors to diagnose disease in real-time with greater accuracy than traditional methods. This will save lives and transform a process which is currently slow, painful and inefficient.”
Digital pathology offers particular benefits for surgeons that are currently forced to put operations on hold while they wait for tissue samples to be tested. As well as allowing surgical decisions to be made in real-time, digital pathology will improve accuracy and reduce the need for follow-up operations that are commonly required (for example, in up to one-third of breast cancer lumpectomies).
Alongside its devices, Optiscan is advancing development of exclusive software and telepathology platforms, as part of ongoing efforts to provide high quality, real-time diagnostic services to everybody, regardless of where they live.
