Lightpoint Medical and Sagentia win £125k Award in TSB Photonics for Health Competition

RICKMANSWORTH, England, November 5, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

Lightpoint Medical and Sagentia Technology & Product Development announced today that they have jointly received a grant award in the Photonics for Health Competition sponsored by the UK's innovation agency, the Technology Strategy Board. The award recognizes "projects that apply innovative photonics technologies to challenges in the health sector." The grant of £125,000 ($200,000) will be used to develop Lightpoint's molecular imaging technology for breast cancer surgery.

Dr David Tuch, CEO of Lightpoint Medical, commented "We are grateful and honoured to receive this award from the government-backed Technology Strategy Board. Nearly 1 in 4 patients who undergo surgery for early-stage breast cancer will require repeat operation. We aim to address this enormous medical need through our proprietary molecular imaging technology. This award builds on our successful private fundraising and previous Technology Strategy Board grants. We are also delighted to partner with Sagentia on this project. Their deep expertise in advanced optics and medical device product development make them excellent partners for this project."  

"Sagentia is pleased to partner with Lightpoint Medical on the development of this innovative molecular imaging technology," commented Mick Withers, Managing Director at Sagentia Technology & Product Development. "Enabling the technology to be used intra-operatively will potentially give oncology surgeons faster and more extensive results and improve patient outcomes with less risk of recurrence. This has the potential to be truly disruptive and we're very excited to help deliver this technology to the market."

About Lightpoint Medical

Lightpoint Medical is an early-stage medical device company dedicated to improving health outcomes for cancer patients through image-guided surgery. The company's molecular imaging technology, based on Cerenkov luminescence imaging, has the potential to detect cancer in real-time during surgery, providing more accurate cancer treatment while sparing healthy tissue. For more information contact info@lightpointmedical.com or visit http://www.lightpointmedical.com 

About Sagentia Technology & Product Development

Sagentia Technology & Product Development is part of The Sagentia Group, a global technology advisory and product development company. We provide outsourced R&D consultancy services to start ups through to global market leaders in the medical, industrial, oil & gas and consumer sectors. With global headquarters in Cambridge, UK, and offices in London, Boston, Houston and Dubai, Sagentia works with clients from technology strategy and opportunity discovery through to concept generation and full product development. We excel in R&D strategy and technology innovation and work with clients to ensure that their R&D programmes deliver commercial value and market advantage. Further information can be found at: http://www.sagentia.com or email us info@sagentia.com

About the Technology Strategy Board

The Technology Strategy Board is the UK's innovation agency.  Its goal is to accelerate economic growth by stimulating and supporting business-led innovation.  Sponsored by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), the Technology Strategy Board brings together business, research and the public sector, supporting and accelerating the development of innovative products and services to meet market needs, tackle major societal challenges and help build the future economy. For more information please visit http://www.innovateuk.org.