The SentiMag^® system is used as part of the current standard sentinel lymph node (SLNB) technique, used by surgeons to monitor the spread of cancer and to plan interventions. Unlike the present system, Endomagnetics’ technology can be used by surgeons as part of an efficient workflow, and does not require specialist technicians to store and manage radioisotopes. Patients are spared the anxiety of radioactivity and the possible need to attend multiple clinics. The system consists of the highly sensitive SentiMag^® instrument and its associated tracer, Sienna+^®. The system is currently in use in 8 countries across the EU: UK, Germany, Poland, France, Italy, Belgium, Holland, and Switzerland.

Dr Marc Thill, Head of the Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics and the Breast Cancer Centre at Agaplesion Markus Hospital, Frankfurt reported: “After working with the SentiMag^® technique in my daily routine for the past few months, I have concluded that this technique is an easy-to-use approach for performing SLNB without radioisotopes or any time-consuming pre-operative preparation of the patient. For that reason it may ultimately replace the standard of care.”

Endomagnetics cited Sysmex’s strong history of customer support, compatible product pipeline and focus on healthcare innovation in developing this strategic relationship. Sysmex is the global market leader in haematology, and has built on its successes in diagnostics to innovate in the life science field. In particular, Sysmex has developed a molecular diagnostics assay called OSNA (One Step Nucleic Acid Amplification). This assay enables complete lymph nodes to be analysed quickly, and is used routinely for analysing sentinel lymph nodes for breast cancer in about 200 hospitals across Europe.

“SentiMag^® offers hospitals and clinics a powerful, efficient new way of locating lymph nodes to verify the spread of breast cancer,” said Dr Michael Schaefer, Managing Director of Sysmex Europe. “It is an excellent strategic fit with our product portfolio and an ideal complement to our OSNA system. Our sales teams across the EU have received very positive feedback from customers.”

CEO of Endomagnetics Dr Eric Mayes commented: “We are extremely pleased with initial customer feedback, and partnering with a group as strong as Sysmex gives us the geographic scope and customer support we need to really make an impact. We have been extremely impressed with the enthusiasm of the Sysmex team in supporting our joint product launch.”

The listing was produced as part of the Silicon Valley Comes to the UK programme, co-founded by Sherry Coutu. Said Ms Coutu: “These CEOs have been selected because of their potential to build scalable businesses that will have a major impact on the UK economy.” She went on to point out that while the UK compared favourably to the US in terms of start-up activity, it only produced half of the scale-ups engendered through Silicon Valley.

Seventeen Cambridge CEOs were nominated in all and these have been enrolled into the prestigious SVC2UK 100 Club.

The nominations were unveiled at a CEO workshop at the Judge Business School in Cambridge, as part of an initiative linking Silicon Valley entrepreneurs with their UK counterparts.

The Future 50 companies were unveiled at a ceremony at the British Library Conference Centre in London last night, organized by Real Business in conjunction with Wonga.com. The programme was launched in 2011, and identifies, celebrates and supports young companies that are triggering change in their markets, or creating new markets.

Endomagnetics was founded by Simon Hattersley, Audrius Brazdeikis and Quentin Pankhurst to develop nanomagnetic technology as an alternative to the radioisotopes currently used for tracking the spread of cancer. By avoiding the problems of short lifetimes and specialist handling of radioactive alternatives, as many as a quarter of a million more breast cancer patients in the West could benefit from the ‘standard of care’ SLNB procedure. With a special nanomagnetic system consisting of the SentiMag^® instrument and associated Sienna+^® tracer, clinicians have available a lower cost, more patient-friendly alternative that greatly improves workflow.

Dr Eric Mayes, CEO of Endomagnetics was asked to give a short presentation to the invited audience. In this he said: “We are naturally delighted to have been selected by this important programme. Since the spin-out from UCL in 2007, we have been well-backed by our investors and have just completed a 160-patient equivalence trial at seven sites in the UK and The Netherlands.”

Matthew Rock, part of the founding team of Real Business, said: “Partnering with Wonga, the British Library Business & IP Centre and our panel of expert judges, we’ve spent six months investigating businesses across the country to select just 50 that we think will be ‘challenger’ businesses of the future. What’s so impressive is to see young firms challenging established industries with a new, often digital, vision. The Wonga Future 50, published with Real Business, illustrates the dynamic change coursing through our economy.”

Errol Damelin, Wonga co-founder and CEO, said: “We decided to create the Wonga Future 50, together with Real Business, to help identify, celebrate and, critically, support the most exciting early-stage UK businesses that are launching new products and services to trigger change. We congratulate all 50 businesses on their vision and ambition.”

In August, Endomagnetics announced that it had been awarded government funding to explore the clinical feasibility of applying magnetic sentinel lymph node (SLN) detection to melanoma, a significant cancer with more than 116,000 cases per year in the EU and US alone.

You can vote for Endomagnetics as the “People’s Champion 2012” at this LINK.

Endomagnetics’ Quality Management System has been evaluated and certified by BSI as meeting the standards of ISO 13485:2003. This international quality standard specifies the requirements for a comprehensive management system for the design and manufacture of medical devices. In addition, Endomagnetics has met the scope necessary for an upgrade to Annex II of the Medical Device Directive 93/42/EEC, applicable to both its SentiMag^® instrument and Sienna+^® tracer material. The company’s current product line is ‘CE’ certified.

Dr Andrew Shawcross, who led the establishment of Endomagnetics’ quality system, said: “We are delighted to have received these certifications. They reflect a substantial effort by our team and reinforce our commitment to quality.”

Concurrent with the quality certification, Dr Shawcross has been promoted to Chief Operating Officer. Eric Mayes, CEO commented: “This [certification] is an important milestone for Endomagnetics and a strong sign of our quality commitment to partners and customers. Andy’s promotion to COO reflects his significant efforts and achievements since joining in 2011.”

The quality certification comes following a comprehensive site audit, and Endomagnetics’ customers can be confident that the company has in place best practice systems to ensure the consistency and high quality of its medical devices. The SentiMag^® probe is used to detect the presence of Sienna+^® as part of the sentinel lymph node biopsy procedure regarded as the current standard of care. Endomagnetics’ technology replaces the need for radioactive tracer materials and so opens up the availability of this important technique to many more patients and clinicians worldwide.

The project will explore the clinical feasibility of applying magnetic sentinel lymph node (SLN) detection to melanoma, a significant cancer with more than 116,000 cases per year in the EU and US alone (WHO), and an increasing incidence around the world.

Endomagnetics will work in partnership with King’s College London and Guy’s and St Thomas’s Hospital to deliver the project. As well as conducting a clinical study, it will evaluate the potential market size and identify any modifications to the technology required for optimal application to this cancer.

The support for this project is part of the first round of funding provided by the Medical Research Council (MRC) and the Technology Strategy Board under the joint £180 million Biomedical Catalyst.

Endomagnetics’ SentiMag^® instrument and Sienna+^® magnetic tracer material overcome the disadvantages of the current radioisotope-based technique, including limited availability, poor workflow and issues of handling and exposure to radiation.

The products have been granted CE-mark approval in Europe, and a multi-centre NIHR-adopted trial is underway in the UK and The Netherlands to confirm equivalence to the radioactive techniques that are the current standard of care in breast cancer surgery.

The awards were announced yesterday by Minister for Universities and Science David Willetts at the British Business Embassy’s life sciences summit. Endomagnetics had already been invited to represent the excellence of British business at the Life Sciences Sector Summit in London.

Endomagnetics CEO Dr Eric Mayes said: “We have always planned to extend the application of our technology into other cancer areas such as melanoma and colorectal cancers. This funding comes at just the right time for us to accelerate the programme.”

Announcing the funding, David Willetts said: “This will support our most innovative life sciences SMEs and academics, drive growth and benefit patients.”

David Bott, Director of Innovation Programmes at the Technology Strategy Board, said: “We are delighted to make these first funding awards through the Biomedical Catalyst, which will help bridge the funding gap between the development of a new idea and investment by the market in a new drug or technology, and provide effective support for the best life science opportunities arising in the UK.”

The Biomedical Catalyst, announced by Prime Minister David Cameron in December 2011, is a programme of public funding designed to deliver growth to the UK life sciences sector. Delivered jointly by the MRC and the Technology Strategy Board, the Catalyst is a key feature of the UK Government’s Life Sciences Strategy. Funding totalling nearly £2.5 million has been made available to 18 SMEs by the Technology Strategy Board in order to carry out feasibility studies. The awards will enable the companies to explore and evaluate the commercial potential of their scientific ideas, to validate the scientific concepts, fully test the market opportunity and construct future development plans.

Endomagnetics will be demonstrating its products at the British Business Embassy at Lancaster House where businesses from all over the world will come together to see British innovation and to discuss opportunities for collaboration and supply. In Endomagnetics’ case, clinicians and hospital administrators will be eager to see how magnetic sensing technology can make a major difference in extending the availability of key cancer staging techniques.

During the six weeks of the 2012 Games, the British Business Embassy will host 18 days of global business summits and a Global Investment Conference, which will be one of the largest Britain has ever seen. The programme is being run by UK Trade & Investment, and is expected over time to generate £1 billion of additional revenue for the economy.

Prime Minister David Cameron has said: “This summer’s Olympics will put the eyes of the world on Britain as we host not just an unparalleled sporting spectacle, but also a chance for companies from across the globe to interact and do business here in the UK.

“A wide range of British companies will be involved alongside the world’s leading business figures in this exciting programme of events…”

Endomagnetics CEO Dr Eric Mayes said: “We are delighted and honoured to have been selected to represent British excellence in these important showcase opportunities. Our technology has clear global potential, and we look forward to forging new relationships.”

The British Business Embassy forms the centrepiece of the Government’s Olympic legacy strategy and will run a programme of conferences, events and networking opportunities starting at the end of July.

The Horizons series features companies and technologies that have the potential to address some of the planet’s most pressing challenges. In Endomagnetics’ case, they have developed a medical device called SentiMag^® based on principles of nano-magnetism, which gives clinicians a much simpler and cheaper method for tracking the spread of cancers, especially breast cancer.

As CEO Dr Eric Mayes explained in the video clip, by avoiding the need for radioactive isotopes, the availability of a key technique – sentinel lymph node biopsy – is significantly extended. In some parts of the world, only 5% of the patients who could benefit have access to this technique.

BBC reporter Adam Shaw visited the team in Cambridge as well as filming at Guy’s Hospital, London, where he saw a demonstration of how the SentiMag^® instrument is used in an operating theatre. Shaw was enthusiastic about nanotechnology and commented: “This could be one technology that’s on the wave of what some experts have dubbed the ‘next industrial revolution’”.

You can watch the video clip at: www.horizonsbusiness.com/episode/nanotechnology/

The company picked up the Life Sciences Award, given by the distinguished panel of judges to the most successful university spin-out company. Endomagnetics is developing advanced magnetic sensing technology for use in breast cancer staging, based on technology developed between University College London and at the University of Houston.

Endomagnetics’ success came in the face of stiff competition from companies in several sectors and countries in Europe. The ACES judges took into account the novelty of the research, clear evidence of commercial success and the potential impact on society. Endomagnetics’ magnetic technology can significantly extend the availability of sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB), currently the standard of care in tracking the spread of breast cancer.

The awards were announced at The European Entrepreneurship Summit in Brussels yesterday. The ACES, run by The Science Business Innovation Board and now in their fourth year, are the only pan-European awards for enterprise from university and public research institutes. They are intended to foster a culture of enterprise among researchers.

Collecting the Life Sciences Award on behalf of Endomagnetics, Professor Pankhurst, CTO, said: “We are naturally thrilled at our work being selected for this award. We are especially delighted at recognition of the huge potential for magnetic nanotechnology to improve procedures and outcomes for clinicians and patients alike.”

The injectable tracer is used in combination with the ultra-sensitive SentiMag^® instrument in sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB), currently the standard of care in tracking the spread of breast cancer.

The SentiMag^® instrument itself has also been CE approved, so clinicians across Europe now have available a complete system to be used in place of conventional radioisotopes. The need for special handling of radioactive materials means that many hospitals and clinics are not able to use them. As a result, as many as half of the patients in the West who would benefit from the SLNB technique are not able to access it, and availability is much worse still in other parts of the world.

Endomagnetics’ development of the SentiMag^® and Sienna+^™ system allows best practice SLNB to be performed anywhere, by any practitioner, without substantially changing their working practice. The combined system offers reduced workflow complexity with a corresponding reduction in procedural cost.

“Achievement of CE approval for Sienna+^™ is an important milestone for Endomagnetics and our ability to deliver a complete solution to the market,” says Dr Eric Mayes, CEO of Endomagnetics. “It demonstrates that the system has met rigorous EU safety, health and environmental requirements.”

Endomagnetics recently showed its technology at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium and received an enthusiastic reception from oncologists and surgeons from many countries.

Dr Shawcross brings over twenty years of experience in operational and project management and will help grow the operational capabilities of Endomagnetics and support its manufacturers and supply chain. Dr Shawcross has held senior positions at ICI, Zeneca, Avecia and latterly at Cambridge Display Technology (CDT) where he was Business Development Manager.

Dr Harmer brings more than a decade of experience in medical devices and will help develop Endomagnetics’ technical and regulatory capabilities. Dr Harmer joins from Vectura Group plc where he was Project Director on dry powder inhaler products, and was previously responsible for the development of the Aspirair dry powder inhaler technology at Cambridge Consultants.

Both Shawcross and Harmer bring a strong combination of deep technical background with commercial experience in developing and delivering technology to the market. They join Endomagnetics at an important time as the company prepares to launch its SentiMag® system with its magnetic tracer, Sienna+™, on the European market.

“I am delighted to welcome both Andrew and Quentin in these important new roles at Endomagnetics”, said Dr Eric Mayes, Chief Executive Officer. “We are entering an exciting phase as we accelerate the market introduction of the technology, and their combined skills significantly expand the capabilities of the management team.”