Imagin Medical Inc. (
CSE: IME,
OTCQB: IMEXF,
Forum) is a surgical imaging Company with advanced optic and light sensor technology that is pioneering a new method to visualize cancer during minimally-invasive surgery. The IME team is advancing this technology to dramatically improve the ability among physicians to visualize the surgical field and detect cancer for more complete resection. The company’s initial target is bladder cancer.
Bladder cancer is the sixth-most prevalent cancer in North America and the third most prevalent cancer among men. With a greater than 50% recurrence rate, it is the most expensive cancer to treat in the United States because, once the diagnosis is positive, patients must be monitored for the rest of their lives. It is estimated that 600,000 people are living today with the fear of their cancer returning.
The market is massive. In the US, all costs-in are around $4 billion (USD). Roughly 80,000 new cases are reported each year with 17,000 deaths annually. Internationally, the number is 350,000 new procedures with 150,000 related deaths.
Across the seven major markets (the US, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK and Japan), the bladder cancer space is poised to more than triple in size by 2025 - to around $1.17 billion at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.5%. This comes via an April 2017 report by
GlobalData, a recognized leader in providing business information and analytics. It is a real opportunity.
The problem with the current standard of care:
The conventional way to find bladder cancer is by an endoscopic procedure called a cystoscopy. which is performed using white light to illuminate the bladder and project images onto a monitor. White light has been the gold standard for decades and is currently used by more than 90% of the market. This method has been effective in finding serious cancerous tumours that protrude from the bladder wall, but it has its limitations. Surgeons can have issues seeing cancerous cells that lie flat against the bladder as well as the finer edges of the tumour, possibly leaving some cancerous cells behind that can grow back. Hence the need for repeat operations. This has led to the introduction of
blue light which is used in conjunction with fluorescent imaging agents / drugs to get a clearer picture.
Even though this method provides much clearer images, surgeons must continue to switch back and forth manually between two images - white and blue light - to fully assess the details and exact location of the tumour, compounding the challenges the operating team faces in an already difficult procedure. In addition, the system must be ordered with proprietary endoscopes that can’t be used for any other purpose. Imagin Medical believes it has an answer.
A solution:
Initially focusing on bladder cancer, the Company’s first product -
the i/Blue Imaging System - boasts proprietary optics and light sensors that combine blue and white light with an already FDA-approved drug to significantly increase the efficiency and accuracy of detecting cancer. The i/Blue technology can display side-by-side images on the monitor simultaneously so surgeons don’t need to switch back and forth between two images while they operate. Unlike the current system, the i/Blue doesn’t include endoscopes and can attach to almost any model on the market, which brings the cost down and means that hospitals can use standard endoscopes they already own. Most significantly, this method also has the potential to reduce the very high recurrence rates that no doubt would lead to an additional reduction in healthcare costs.
(Image via Imagin Medical)
The bladder cancer market is very large, and surgeons are looking for innovation, which is why the Company has chosen to address this market first.– This technology will obsolete current products on the market and has far wider implications … but more on that later.
A practical system, priced right:
Why isn’t everyone using this technology? In an interview with Stockhouse Editorial, Imagin’s Chief Executive Officer, Jim Hutchens explains that the current method of blue-light fluorescent systems can run on the expensive side. Distinct among the competition, the i/Blue Imaging System will be less expensive than other products on the market. The Company is also coming into the market using an already FDA approved product.
It is also worth noting that the
American Urological Association (AUA) and the
European Association of Urology (EAU) have now added blue light into their respective guidelines, which CEO Hutchens added is huge for the Company and will be of immense support for how they intend to bring this technology to market.
He likened the evolution of bladder cancer visualization technology to that of telephones. White light is the old landline, blue light is the original cell phone, and the i/Blue system is the latest smartphone that allows you to do more than one thing at a time, like the simultaneous side-by-side images at a lower cost.
(Image via Imagin Medical)
Moving toward commercialization:
CEO Hutchens noted further that the Company had already received overwhelmingly positive feedback during meetings with leading urologists who attended the 2019 American Urological Association (AUA) meeting in Chicago. At the upcoming AUA meeting in May, Imagin will have an opportunity to provide further updates on the i/Blue Imaging System.
The Company has built and verified its first units. The company is currently preparing documentation and planning its first pilot production runs after which time the company will submit its application to the FDA.
Imagin has three issued patents and will dramatically strengthen its intellectual property portfolio with innovations developed during the redesign process.
Management:
(Image via Imagin Medical)
The best teams are led by the best minds and the Company is backed by a great deal of experience.
CEO Hutchens previously served as a Managing Partner in
Origin Partners, a $55 million early stage, venture capital fund and was the founder and CEO of both
Microsurge Inc., a venture-backed, minimally invasive surgery company, and
Choice Therapeutics, an advanced wound-care company. He had worked for Boston Scientific along with the Company’s operations manager and several of Imagin’s regulatory officers.
The Company’s Chief Financial Officer, John Vacha, was most recently President, CEO and Board Member of
Intact Medical Corporation, which he successfully sold to Medtronic. He was also a Senior Consultant at
Deloitte & Touche, LLP. He is a certified public accountant in the state of Massachusetts.
Members of Imagin’s Scientific Advisory Board come from the ranks of top academic and medical institutions.
Partnerships:
The Company has redesigned its initial prototype with
Optel Inc., an opto-electronic design firm specializing in medical devices. Optel founder and CEO, Jay Eastman has a Ph.D. in optical design from the
University of Rochester and had already built two successful companies from the ground up while teaching at the graduate level for the university.
Financing:
2019 ended on a positive note for Imagin. On the operations side, its
expense spending was lower, while spending for research and development grew.
The Company began the new year by closing an
oversubscribed non-brokered private placement, issuing 38,280,000 units for proceeds of $1,914,000. This funding will get Imagin to mid-year 2020 on very solid footing. 81% of its spending goes toward product development and FDA regulatory work.
Investment summary:
Imagin Medical Inc. is a Company emerging from a development phase to the manufacturing phase, with a product at a price that makes it practical enough to become mainstream.
In an industry where failure happens on a regular basis by those who try to accomplish too-broad an endeavour, Imagin is taking a disciplined approach at a major, yet overlooked, market - bladder cancer - with the potential to expand into other minimally invasive procedures such as laparoscopic, (general and gynecologic) thoracic and colorectal. .
(Image via Imagin Medical)
Imagin is strengthening its intellectual property even further. Investing in the medical sector is a long game. Developments take time and investors should focus on companies with breakthrough technologies at lower price points that can establish new standards of care. Imagin Medical is one Company that fits this profile and investors should do further due diligence into what they offer to potentially see returns with much higher down the road.