LumaMed Adds Cancer Imaging Technology From the Wellman Center for Photomedicine

ATLANTA, GA and BOSTON, MA–(Marketwire – December 1, 2010) – LumaMed LLC has entered into an initial agreement with Massachusetts General Hospital to commercialize an imaging system developed at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine that could revolutionize cancer surgery.

The technology is complementary to that previously licensed by LumaMed from Providence Hospital in Oregon for teledermatology imaging, and has the demonstrated ability to provide real-time surgical guidance, enabling a surgeon to “see” cancer margins.

LumaMed’s cancer imaging technology addresses an estimated $1 billion market opportunity for products that improve efficiency and efficacy in cancer removal procedures. Cancer margin delineation is critical in instances where tissue preservation is important, including skin, head and neck, breast, prostate and brain surgeries.

LumaMed is initially focusing on skin cancer, which is the most common of all cancers. Each year, over one million new cases of skin cancer are detected and many require painstaking and expensive Mohs surgery. Once cleared by the FDA, LumaMed plans to market the new devices to Mohs skin cancer surgeons as a visual aid to help eliminate the need for more than one surgical stage, thus improving patient care and creating a substantial economic benefit.

“In combination with a trained physician, we believe LumaMed’s technology could complement histopathological evaluation, help accurately define margins and reduce the occurrence of biopsies,” said Mark A. Samuels, chief executive officer of LumaMed. “The technology agreement with Massachusetts General Hospital will provide us with the additional tools necessary for development and commercialization of our image-guided surgical systems for the real-time evaluation of skin lesions and other cancers.”

LumaMed is combining two powerful approaches for rapid, easy and cost-effective onsite and remote evaluation of suspicious skin lesions using polarization-based spectroscopic imaging technology. Called “Polarization Subtraction Imaging,” PsiScan technology selectively samples the dermal/epidermal junction and papillary dermis, where cancer originates, and enhances image clarity by rejecting surface scatter and light from deeper layers. This results in images with significantly greater clarity and contrast for improved tumor identification and margin delineation. Clarity and contrast is required in skin cancer evaluation to recognize the disruption of the rich texture of the papillary dermis or to detect tumor silhouettes that identify basal cell carcinomas. Such disruption is difficult to discern with existing dermatoscopes or point-and-shoot digital cameras.

About LumaMed, LLC.
LumaMed is developing devices that provide rapid, easy and improved imaging of cancer based on patented “Polarization Subtraction Imaging” (PSI) technology. LumaMed’s revolutionary cancer visualization tools enable real-time imaging of cancer margins during surgery with an accuracy approaching that of conventional pathology. In addition to the initial focus on skin cancer, the approach can be used with other cancers such as prostate, breast, and head and neck cancers. LumaMed products have not been cleared by the FDA for sales in the U.S. and are not presently being offered for sale. For more information, visit www.lumamed.com.