Detect skin cancers in minutes with a simple portable device

the skin cancer is the most common cancer in the world. it comes in two forms, the carcinoma and the melanoma, the latter being the most serious. His late diagnosis and ability to make metastases make sound prognosis bad, with 14,000 patients dying from melanoma in Europe every year. The start-up Parisian Damae Medical allows an aid for an earlier detection of the disease, thus improving the chances of survival. ” When melanoma is caught at stage 1, a patient’s 5-year survival rate is around 98% “says Anaïs Barut, co-founder of the start-up.

Visualize deep skin tissue in high resolution

The diagnosis of carcinomas and melanomas is today established most of the time on a biopsy, an invasive procedure and the results of which take one to two weeks to show. Damae Medical provides real-time diagnostic support through cellular visualization of deep skin tissues. Its optical imaging device is a portable probe that can analyze the skin by simple contact with the patient.

Their innovative optical technology combines the advantages of two techniques: optical coherence tomography (OCT) and confocal reflectance microscopy (MCR). The first is an imaging technique interferometry, performing vertical optical sections whose depth of exploration is of the order of a millimeter. The MCR performs horizontal optical sections with a resolution cell to a depth of 200 μm. LC-OCT technology allows, with a single device, 3D visualization down to the dermis at the cellular scale of all types of cancers: melanomas and carcinomas.

Launched in 2014, the start-up Damae Medical is the result of the invention of a researcher from the Charles Fabry laboratory (UMR IOGS, UPSaclay, CNRS), Pr. Arnaud Dubois. He met Anaïs Barut and David Siret, the two other co-founders, at the Institut d’Optique Graduate School, where he teaches. Together, they see the project as a remarkable opportunity and decide to sign a licensing agreement to create their start-up.

A dozen hospitals already equipped in five countries

Damae Medical won the i-Lab competition in 2015, organized by the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation in partnership with BPI France. It also received a grant from the European Commission of 2.4 million euros in 2019. After several years of development, the technology is now ready to be marketed.

A dozen hospitals have already been equipped in five countries. The start-up is now working on the clinical validation of its device to deploy it on a larger scale. In addition to aid in the diagnosis of skin cancer, Damae Medical wishes to broaden its field ofapplication dermo-cosmetics and monitoring the effectiveness of dermatological treatments. ” Our device allows for example to visualize the effects of a moisturizer or a pharmaceutical treatment dermatological“, explains Anaïs Barut.

Fundraising to accelerate the deployment in Europe of deepLive™

At the beginning of February, Damae Medical announced the completion of fundraising of more than 5 million euros. The goal? Continue to invest and develop its solution in the possibilities offered by the cloud and also theAI. The start-up, representative of French Medtech, wishes to optimize and diversify the clinical indications that can be addressed with deepLive™, its device for analyzing the cellular structure of the skin. In collaboration with the dermatologistsDamae Medical intends to use AI to improve the visualization of skin structures in 3D.

Another ambition of the startup: to use this fundraising to accelerate its international deployment, particularly in Europe, where the German and Italian markets offer many possibilities. But if Europe remains the horizon of this commercial deployment, the United States and Australia represent a non-negligible potential since clinical studies are already underway. Anaïs Barut confirms this: “ The financial means offered by this second fundraising of 5 million euros will allow us to continue and accelerate the commercial deployment of deepLive™ in Europe and to push the development of our products even further. “.

3DEXPERIENCE Lab technical support

The start-up is supported by Dassault Systèmes through the 3DEXPERIENCE Lab program. “ This gives us access to a whole community of Dassault Systèmes business experts.welcomes Anaïs Barut. Dassault Systèmes also provides us with valuable technical support on optimizing the design of the imaging probe and its robustness. Thanks to the free access software suite, we were also able to create communication tools and benefit from marketing advice. “. The young shoot is now well on its way to continuing its development in France and abroad.

Profile Damae Medical

• Domain : medical imaging ;
• Creation date : 2014 ;
• Employees : 20;
• Location : Paris ;
• Founders : David Siret, Anaïs Barut, Arnaud Dubois.

Article produced in partnership with the Damae Medical and Dassault Systèmes teams