Dune Medical Raises $12.3M

Dune Medical Devices announced the closing of a $12.3 million financing round led by Canepa Healthcare, ATON Partners and the Kraft Group. The company has received $66.5 million in funding to date, with the most recent round planned to support product expansion beyond the company’s initial breast cancer indication.

The MarginProbe System, the company’s first product, utilizes radiofrequency spectroscopy technology to detect microscopic residual cancer in real time during a surgical procedure. As clean margins are critical in preventing disease recurrence, the device enables the surgeon to remove additional tissue during the primary procedure while the patient is still under anesthesia, greatly reducing the costs and potential complications associated with multiple surgeries. The device was first developed for use in breast lumpectomy procedures, where the company estimates 20-30% of women need additional surgical procedures to remove residual cancerous tissue. Across three large pivotal randomized control trials and several other peer reviewed studies, Dune Medical reports that 2,500 women were found to have a 79% reduction in re-excision procedures when the MarginProbe System was implemented.

With this latest funding announcement, the company is now planning on expanding the use of the MarginProbe to prostate, colon, lung and pancreatic cancers. Further, in August 2016, Dune Medical received the European Union Horizon 2020 Research Grant to develop their biopsy system, which the company says will allow radiologists and surgeons to immediately characterize tissue abnormalities along the tip of a biopsy needle.