After receiving the EIC Accelerator grant last year, Positrigo announced that the European Innovation Council Fund (EIC Fund) awarded the company with €1.5 million to top up the second tranche of Positrigo’s series A. The startup, which is developing nuclear medical imaging devices to advance functional imaging, also secured a commitment from the EIC Fund to additionally invest up to €3.5 million in a future financing round.
Positrigo, founded in 2018, is a spin-off of ETH Zurich developing ultra-compact Positron Emission Tomography (PET) systems. The company focuses on delivering versatile head PET systems with applications in early dementia diagnosis and other brain related disorders.
According to Dr. Stefan Bircher, VP Business Development & Marketing of Positrigo “The EIC funding allows us to accelerate the commercialisation of our ultra-small brain PET device called NeuroLF. Our goal is to conduct additional clinical trials to meet the regulatory requirements to gain market approval in Europe and the US in the near future. Furthermore, we continue to engage with important clinical and research institutions to form strategic partnerships to further improve our product offering.”.
Earlier this year the company finished the first in-vivo clinical trial to demonstrate that their innovative brain PET scanner performed successfully in a highly constrained environment. This accomplishment was possible thanks to the collaboration of interdisciplinary teams at University Hospital Zurich and the ETH Zurich.
For now, the company’s main goal is to use their medical technology to support Alzheimer’s patients, as Dr. Bircher explained: “The initial focus of NeuroLF will be the early detection of Alzheimer's disease which will enable clinicians to offer patient specific treatment modalities. Thanks to its ultra-compact design, NeuroLF will be much smaller and less expensive compared to conventional PET scanners. The reduced footprint and lower cost will allow for broader adoption and use of brain PET technology to diagnose not only Alzheimer but other brain related disorders.”.
Jannis Fischer, co-founder and CEO of Positrigo (right) together with Max Ahnen, co-founder and COO of Positrigo. Photo courtesy: Positrigo AG, Switzerland
Positrigo received a Phase 2 Grant and Blended Finance from the European Innovation Council to support the commercialisation of their NeuroLF brain PET system technology, that aims to make brain scanning affordable for everyone.
DISCLAIMER: This information is provided in the interest of knowledge sharing and should not be interpreted as the official view of the European Commission, or any other organisation.