By Jim Hutchens, CEO at Imagin Medical |
- Imagin Medical Inc. is a surgical imaging company helping to advance the use of blue light cystoscopy (“BLC”) in battling bladder cancer and reducing costs associated with these procedures
- Bladder cancer is the sixth most prevalent cancer in the United States, and the third most common in men, yet the most expensive to treat. While early-stage cancer intervention involves illuminating the bladder with white light – the light that can be seen by the human eye – to visualize and resect tumors, historical use of white light has resulted in incomplete tumor removal and a greater than 50% recurrence rate.
- BLC, a revolutionary surgical method using a tumor-staining dye to reveal bladder cancer, has increased the effectiveness of cystoscopy, but financial and functional obstacles have limited its adoption
- Imagin’s proprietary technology will address these primary barriers. The company’s product is in the manufacturing stage and working toward FDA approval
Increasing patient demand and clinical data in support of blue light cystoscopy’s value in detecting bladder cancer is shining new light on Imagin Medical (CSE: IME) (OTCQB: IMEXF), a surgical imaging company, and the potential value of their proprietary technology, the patented i/Blue™ Imaging System.
Bladder cancer is the sixth-most common cancer in the United States, third most common in men and the most expensive to treat because of a 50 percent recurrence rate due to the inadequacies of conventional white light cystoscopy that limits surgeons’ inability to detect and remove all existing tumors. (https://ibn.fm/BdRjk).
New data and analyses presented at the 21st Annual Meeting of the Society of Urologic Oncology in December discussed the budgetary impact of using blue light cystoscopy (BLC), a more recent and improved technology to detect and monitor bladder cancer. According to a report on the presentation by Photocure manufacturer of the tumor-staining drug, Cysview™ used in blue light applications, the drug did not significantly affect the cost of cystoscopies and resulted in finding more tumors that would otherwise have been missed.
“We initiated this study because the utility of blue light cystoscopy for surveillance in patients receiving BCG (Bacillus Calmette-Guerin immunotherapy) treatments is really not well understood. Thus, no recommendations exist in current guidelines,” stated Dr. Max Kates, assistant professor of Urology and Oncology, and co-director at the Bladder Cancer Multidisciplinary Clinic in The James Buchanan Brady Urologic Institute of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (https://ibn.fm/ywQGR).
“The use of BLC with Cysview continues to inspire the scientific community as much as ever for improving the care of patients diagnosed with bladder cancer. These new abstracts highlight the role of the procedure throughout patient care, especially focusing on the impact on patient management when used in surveillance,” Photocure President and CEO Dan Schneider added. “The Budget Impact Model supports the favorable cost-benefit of blue light procedures, including in the office setting, while reaffirming its superiority in detection of non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer compared to white light alone.”
A Urology Times report (https://ibn.fm/YwotL) noted that the use Cysview in conjunction with blue-filtered white light during initial transurethral resection of bladder tumors (“TURB”) “lowered costs by $4,660 over 5 years compared with use of white light cystoscopy alone. The investigators also observed that patients receiving BLC had a lower overall cancer burden compared with those receiving white light alone.”
Despite the American Urological Association’s recommendation in favor of using BLC, the technology is used in less than 10 percent of cystoscopies because of the high cost of equipment and the challenges surgeons face in switching back and forth between white light and blue light images to locate and resect the tumors (https://ibn.fm/yslrQ). And that is where Imagin Medical comes in.
Imagin’s proprietary i/Blue Imaging System makes it possible for surgeons to see white light and blue light images side-by-side in real time as the bladder tumor resection procedure takes place. The system is compatible with almost any endoscope on the market, lowering the cost of entry for hospitals and surgical centers because they can use the equipment they already own.
Despite the economic difficulties imposed by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Imagin was able to develop the technology into a functioning prototype. In 2021, working with Lighthouse Imaging, an FDA certified manufacturer, Imagin has moved to the manufacturing stage to complete pre-production process for the i/Blue Imaging System and finalize test parameters to meet exacting FDA requirements (https://ibn.fm/AEglk).
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.ImaginMedical.com.
