Under the direction of CEO and Co-Founder Joanna Nathan, Prana Thoracic is on a mission to bring precision intervention to early-stage lung cancer patients. With its innovative technology and mission-driven team, the company aims to reshape the landscape of lung cancer treatment through minimally invasive solutions.
Prana Thoracic was born from a clear unmet need identified by thoracic surgeons Dr. Ed Boyle and Dr. Rick Fischel, who witnessed firsthand the lack of treatment options for early-stage lung cancer patients. Nathan explained, “My Co-Founders discovered this unmet need through their clinical practices and wanted to create a solution for those specific patients.”
With this insight and the backing of these clinicians, Nathan joined as CEO to build the strategy and lead the company’s mission. “I was drawn to lung cancer because it’s an area that hasn’t seen the same progress as other major cancers, even though it remains one of the deadliest. I wanted to contribute to advancing a field currently experiencing a wave of transformative innovation,” she shared.
Lung cancer continues to be one of the most fatal cancers, with a high mortality rate and limited options for early-stage intervention. “The field is evolving rapidly, driven by three intersecting trends: the advent of low-dose CT imaging, the expansion of lung cancer screening for high-risk patients, and an increase in incidental findings from other scans,” Nathan noted.
Despite these advances, treatment options for small nodules (<1 cm) remain limited. “Today, if you find a small nodule, patients are faced with either needle biopsies, which are difficult to perform accurately on small nodules, or invasive surgeries that remove a significant portion of the lung. There’s no in-between,” she explained.
Nathan emphasized the need to create an interventional solution to bridge this gap: “We need a solution that’s sized appropriately for early intervention, much like how breast-conserving procedures, like lumpectomies, transformed breast cancer care.”
Prana Thoracic’s technology is centered around developing precision surgery tools for lung cancer intervention. Nathan shared, “Our vision is to rightsize intervention for early-stage lung cancer patients.” The company’s device, The Prana System™, is designed to enable image-guided, minimally invasive surgery that preserves as much healthy tissue as possible. “The device uses radiofrequency ablation to excise lung tissue while minimizing the complications typically associated with lung surgery,” she continued.
By combining minimally invasive techniques with imaging guidance, The Prana System aims to offer a middle-ground solution between needle biopsies and highly invasive surgeries. “Creating a solution that allows surgeons to take just the right amount of tissue will enable physicians and care teams to drive personalized treatment plans for their patients,” Nathan explained.
Advances in therapeutic and imaging technologies are driving minimally invasive lung procedure volumes. According to LSI’s Global Surgical Procedure Volumes (SPV) database, segmentectomy is the most commonly performed procedure in the United States for removing cancerous and suspected tissue.
A segmentectomy, or segmental lung resection, removes a segment of the lung lobe that has been determined or is suspected to contain cancerous tissue.
By the end of 2024, LSI projects that 21,100 segmentectomies will be performed. The increasing adoption of minimally invasive techniques is ongoing. As recently as 2022, lobectomies were the most commonly performed minimally invasive lung intervention in the United States. For example, segmentectomies are forecasted to increase at a CAGR of 8.9% from 2023 to 2028, while lobectomies and wedge resection procedure volumes are projected to decline during the same period.
Countries like the United States that can adopt more advanced technologies, like those being developed by Prana Thoracic, are expected to see increased adoption of increasingly less invasive lung procedures to remove cancerous tissue.
Prana Thoracic is making significant progress in its mission to transform early-stage lung cancer treatment. The company recently reached its design freeze milestone and is transitioning from the prototyping phase to the clinical phase. Nathan elaborated, “We’re ramping up our manufacturing, getting our testing protocols ready, and preparing for a small first-in-human in the United States, which we hope to kick off in about six months. We plan to continue down the path with the FDA to get clearance from them in the next year.”
Nathan provided insights into the company’s fundraising journey: “LSI USA ‘24 was my first LSI, and we were actively raising our Series A extension round. When we started raising in February, I had cold-emailed Sean Churchill at cultivate(MD) and told him I'd be at LSI in March. We met for the first time at the event, and less than six weeks later, he and his team had joined our Series A extension round. That in-person meeting at LSI was key to making this happen.” Prana Thoracic recently closed on the Series A extension, bringing its total funds to $9 million. “Looking ahead, we’ll be attending LSI USA ‘25, where we will begin early conversations around our Series B,” she shared.
Nathan has been selected to present at LSI USA ‘25 next March 17-21 in front of hundreds of global medical technology companies. Join us in welcoming Nathan to the event in Dana Point, CA, where she will share the latest updates on Prana Thoracic’s technology and development.
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