One million Swiss francs for Terapet

Participants in the seed round include EFI (Efficient Frontier Investing), Nina Capital, FSI (Fongit Seed Invest) and three angel investors, with support of FONGIT. The funds will flow into the development of the Terapet’s first full-scale prototype with the support of CERN. The startup will also prepare for clinical validation at one of its clinical partners, The Skandion Clinic in Sweden.

Terapet is developing innovative solutions for a safer, more precise and time-saving proton therapy for cancer treatment. Proton beam therapy is an advanced treatment method for cancer and other tumour diseases. Compared to conventional radiotherapy with x-rays, proton therapy administers a lesser dose to the healthy tissue surrounding the tumour because protons stop at a certain depth inside the patient, delivering a very high dose just before they stop. The dose "behind" the tumour is close to zero. Approaches with proton therapy are particularly important when treating children and tackling critical cancer types such as brain tumours and prostate cancers which are very close to critical organs like the brain, spine, optical nerves and sensitive nerves.

Terapet’s novel medical device will, therefore, for the first time, enable medical doctors to monitor the delivered proton dose inside the patients during cancer treatment: in-vivo, non-invasively, in 3D and real-time.

“With our solution, we will eliminate one of the biggest obstacles: ensuring that every patient receives the right dose, every time,” said Christina Vallgren, CEO of Terapet. “Additionally, our solution has the potential to further boost the growth of proton therapy in the near future, making it more affordable and accessible to a wider population.”

(Press release / RAN)