a wand device that would sense the tag and provide real-time monitoring of the tumor, said co-founder Laura King. Both the tag and wand would be made by Elucent, she said.
Elucent’s system will be cheaper than the hook wire procedure, while also helping identify a tumor’s margins during the removal surgery—something the invasive hook wire technology doesn’t accomplish, the company says. That means Elucent’s system could ensure more accurate cancer removal.
“We believe it will be able to reduce the rate of re-treatment or readmission,” King said during her pitch Tuesday to a room of more than 100 observers and judges at the Alliant Energy Center.
The marker would be removed during surgery, or could safely remain in the patient’s body if the tumor turns out to be benign and no surgery is required, King said after the contest’s results were announced today.
Elucent’s co-founders are bootstrapping the company and aren’t currently raising outside investment, King said in an interview. The plan is to file for FDA approval of the device in 2015 and ramp up sales in 2016.
King is a former GE Healthcare exec who later was the founding CEO of NeuWave Medical, a Madison-based surgical device maker that she helped raise $33 million in venture capital. Elucent’s team includes NeuWave co-founders Dan van der Weide, Fred Lee, and Chris Brace, as well as Lee Wilke, director of the University of Wisconsin Health Breast Center and a surgery professor, and Elizabeth Burnside, a University of Wisconsin radiology professor and vice chair of research.
King said winning the contest is recognition of Elucent’s opportunity to deliver a product that helps patients, lowers healthcare costs, creates jobs, and boosts the startup ecosystem in Wisconsin.
Since the contest began a decade ago, past finalists have collectively raised $160 million in angel and venture capital, grants, and venture debt, the Tech Council said. In a 2012 survey, 77 percent of contest finalists said they were still in business.
