A pill-sized camera that drastically improves esophageal cancer screening.
Each year, 600,000 people are diagnosed with esophageal cancer and 75% die within 5 years after receiving this diagnosis. Screening with conventional endoscopy is offered to people with Barrett’s esophagus, a disease linked to a higher cancer risk, but it misses 25% of early cancer and is expensive. Capsule Photonics developed a pill-sized imaging device that patients can swallow. A nurse pulls the capsule up by a string while it images the inside of the esophagus in two minutes, an AI algorithm then gives a diagnosis. Capsule Photonics makes cancer easier to see by combining high-resolution imaging with a technique that makes cancer tissue light up; scientific studies have proven that Capsule Photonics will detect at least 25% more early cancer.
Why Demonstrator Lab?
We currently have a prototype, which we validated in a laboratory setting and we have just started our first pilot study where we will validate the Capsule Photonics in vivo in patients. We are determined to create a spin-off to commercialize the capsule and can really benefit from Demonstrator Lab, especially when it comes to the commercial skills and financial know-how that is now lacking.
