Spinout News / UCLB News
UCLB SmartTarget® technology featured in the Mail online
16 December 2014
SmartTarget® is an image fusion technology developed by a team led by Dr Dean Barratt of the Centre for Medical Image Computing at UCL (CMIC), which enables image-directed tumour targeting in prostate cancer patients.
An early prototype of the patented SmartTarget® technology was developed under the UCL Business Proof of Concept funding scheme, and has since benefited from a substantial translational funding award from the Department of Health and Wellcome Trust through the Health Innovation Challenge (HIC) Fund.
Set to be CE marked early in 2015, the product package comprises both hardware and software components and will be licensed for clinical use in the UK and Europe. SmartTarget® is currently being used in trials that apply the new technique to targeted prostate cancer biopsy and minimally-invasive focal therapy, where the tumour rather than the whole gland is treated to reduce side-effects. In both cases the urologist benefits from the ability to sample – or deliver therapy to – small regions of the organ with millimetre accuracy.
Click here to read the full article.
For further information regarding this technology, please contact Marina Santilli m.santilli@uclb.com
About the Health Innovation Challenge Fund
The Health Innovation Challenge Fund is a parallel funding partnership between the Wellcome Trust and the Department of Health to stimulate the creation of innovative healthcare products, technologies and interventions and to facilitate their development for the benefit of patients in the NHS and beyond.
About the Department of Health
The Department of Health (DH) helps people to live better for longer. The Department leads, shapes and funds health and care in England, making sure people have the support, care and treatment they need, with the compassion, respect and dignity they deserve.
The Department funds health research and encourages the use of new technologies because it’s important to the development of new, more effective treatments for NHS patients. Innovation is needed so that decisions about health and care are based on the best and latest evidence.
About the Wellcome Trust
The Wellcome Trust is a global charitable foundation dedicated to improving health. We provide more than £700 million a year to support bright minds in science, the humanities and the social sciences, as well as education, public engagement and the application of research to medicine. www.wellcome.ac.uk
About UCLB
UCL Business PLC (UCLB) is a leading technology transfer company that supports and commercialises research and innovations arising from UCL, one of the UK’s top research-led universities. UCLB has a successful track record and a strong reputation for identifying and protecting promising new technologies and innovations from UCL academics. UCLB has a strong track record in commercialising medical technologies and provides technology transfer services to UCL’s associated hospitals; University College London Hospitals, Moorfields Eye Hospital, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children and the Royal Free London Hospital. It invests directly in development projects to maximise the potential of the research and manages the commercialisation process of technologies from laboratory to market.
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