Under the direction of Co-Founder and CEO Christina Vallgren, Terapet is taking nuclear and precision medicine to the next level with its next-generation imaging technology. The company is working to revolutionize cancer care by introducing the first real-time, in-vivo dose monitoring system for proton therapy.
The inspiration for Terapet began with one of Christina’s Co-Founders, Marcus Palm, who played a vital role in establishing the first Proton Therapy Center in Austria. He was responsible for developing the patient safety system, and during this time, the seed of his idea was planted. Vallgren and Palm recognized the vast potential of emerging technologies but also noticed a significant gap between groundbreaking research and real-world application.
Committing to bridging this gap, Vallgren and Palm joined forces to create Terapet, a Geneva-based CERN MedTech spin-off. They were confident they could make a real difference in cancer care with access to cutting-edge innovations and technologies. Raymond Mirabell, the Head of the Radio-Oncology Department at Geneva University Hospital and Medical Director at the first Proton Therapy Center in Madrid, then joined as Terapet's third Co-Founder, bringing deep expertise and invaluable clinical insights to the team.
Together, the three set out with a clear mission: to develop a product that would “act as the eyes for doctors,” enabling them to see inside patients like never before. Vallgren explained, “Our goal is that our first product will act as the eyes for doctors, so they can see the protons arriving way inside the patients in real-time, in 3D, in vivo, and in a non-invasive way.”
The Switzerland-based startup is headquartered in Geneva, where their growing in-house team and consultants work to make this vision a reality. The team is driven by the belief that their technology can fundamentally change how doctors treat cancer, closing the gap between research and the clinic to improve patient outcomes worldwide.
Proton therapy is a new technology that uses high-energy particles to treat cancer externally. Unlike traditional radiation therapy, which delivers beams of photons to the tumor and beyond, proton therapy offers the ability to precisely deliver beams of protons directly to the tumor site. This approach allows doctors to better target the radiation to the shape and size of the tumor, minimizing damage to nearby tissues.
“Today, the administration of proton therapy relies largely on pretreatment simulations to plan and carry out treatment sessions,” Vallgren explained. These simulations aim to create a “map” for the treatment team to predict the optimal path and dosage of proton beams. However, without real-time measurement capabilities, doctors cannot confirm with certainty that the beams are hitting the intended targets in the patient’s body. “Due to this uncertainty, during the planning process, doctors have to be conservative and add margins around the tumor to ensure all of the cancer cells are killed,” Vallgren continued. The consequence is damage to healthy tissues and “unnecessary amounts of radiation for patients.”
She added, “If the tumor is the size of a clementine, you don’t want to treat it as an orange. Our device will allow the doctor to treat a clementine as a clementine.”
Real-time, in-vivo dose monitoring during proton therapy is not a new idea. Various approaches to this have been proposed and explored; however, there is still no commercially available medical device that offers this capability. The industry is on the cusp of a substantial transformation with the development of technologies that enable real-time measurement of proton delivery in the body. This innovation would be a breakthrough in the field, allowing doctors to significantly decrease the amount of radiation delivered to healthy tissues and improve patient outcomes.
Terapet’s flagship product, QualyscanⓇ, is an all-in-one solution for quality control in Proton Therapy Technology. Vallgren explains, “QualyscanⓇ is the world’s first end-to-end quality assurance device used in proton therapy. It is designed to enhance the precision of cancer treatment through advanced nuclear imaging. By providing real-time, high-resolution images during particle therapy, QualyscanⓇ ensures more accurate targeting of tumors while minimizing damage to surrounding healthy tissues. This innovative technology represents a significant leap forward in the field of oncology, improving treatment outcomes and patient safety.”
“We can measure the protons arriving in real-time way inside the patients. By doing so, you can reduce the margins from six millimeters today to less than one millimeter,” Vallgren continues.
Although Terapet is a relatively new startup, Terapet has achieved several key milestones that illuminate the company’s progress and growing impact in the field of proton therapy.
Terapet currently has two products in its portfolio. Vallgren explained, “Our first device (QualyscanⓇ) is already in the commercialization phase. We have two pilot customers: one in Sweden and one in South Korea. Our second device (NuclyscanⓇ), which is in the IND phase, will be shifted to South Korea.”
2023 was an exciting year for the Terapet team. Along with significant funding efforts, Terapet showcased its QualyscanⓇ to the particle therapy community at the PTCOG in Madrid. Later that year, Terapet was awarded the Innosuisse certificate, indicating its readiness for sustainable growth.
In early 2024, Terapet, together with their clinical partner Inselspital Department of Nuclear Medicine from Switzerland and R&D partners Politecnico di Milano and Nuclear Instruments from Italy, were awarded EUR 1,677,000 through the Eurostars Program by the EUREKA countries and the European Commission.
Vallgren stated, “By the end of this year, the prototype of our second device will be installed at a hospital, and we will be collecting the clinical data for the prototype. Looking ahead, we hope to close the Series B of 15 to 20 million by the middle of 2025.”
Diagnostic imaging is a core tool within the healthcare industry. These technologies are used throughout the care of patients, from initial diagnosis to interventional guidance and post-operative confirmation of interventional effectiveness. According to LSI’s Market Analysis and Projections (MAP) database, nuclear imaging is one of the fastest-growing device markets within the ~$40 billion diagnostic imaging devices market. Valued at $5.2 billion in 2023, LSI projects that the nuclear imaging systems market will increase at a CAGR of 5.0% from 2023 to 2028, reaching an estimated $6.9 billion by 2028.
The biggest tailwind to the growth of the nuclear imaging market is cancer epidemiology. New cancer cases are continuing to increase, particularly in younger people. This phenomenon of increasing incidence of cancer in young patients has gained recent media attention. Clinical studies point to low-quality lifestyle choices, such as the food people consume, that lead to earlier carcinogenesis. According to the World Health Organization, incident cancer cases are projected to increase by 77%, from 20 million new cases in 2022 to 35 million by 2050.
The increasing burden of cancer has led to a demand for more effective solutions to diagnose and treat cancer. Nuclear imaging is one such solution that is critical throughout the management of cancer patients, from diagnosis, staging, treatment planning, and post-treatment surveillance.
Vallgren has been selected to present at LSI Europe ‘24 this September 16th-20th in front of hundreds of global medical technology companies. Join us in welcoming Vallgren to the event in Sintra, Portugal, where she will share the latest updates on Terapet’s technology and development.
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