Endomagnetics selected as high-potential company by Future 50 Project30 November 2012 Cambridge-based Endomagnetics, which is developing a portfolio of novel products for treating breast cancer, has been selected as one of the UK's most exciting, high-potential new businesses by the Real Business Future 50 project. The Future 50 companies were unveiled at a ceremony at the British Library Conference Centre in London earlier this month, organized by Real Business in conjunction with Wonga.com. The programme identifies young companies that are triggering change in their markets, or creating new markets. Endomagnetics was founded by Simon Hattersley, Audrius Brazdeikis and Quentin Pankhurst to develop nanomagnetic technology as an alternative to the radioisotopes currently used for tracking the spread of cancer. By avoiding the problems of short lifetimes and specialist handling of radioactive alternatives, as many as a quarter of a million more breast cancer patients in the West could benefit from the ‘standard of care’ SLNB procedure. With a special nanomagnetic system consisting of the SentiMag instrument and associated Sienna+ tracer, clinicians have available a lower cost, more patient-friendly alternative that greatly improves workflow. Dr Eric Mayes, CEO of Endomagnetics was asked to give a short presentation to the invited audience. In this he said: “We are naturally delighted to have been selected by this important programme. Since the spin-out from UCL in 2007, we have been well-backed by our investors and have just completed a 160-patient equivalence trial at seven sites in the UK and The Netherlands.” Matthew Rock, part of the founding team of Real Business, said: “Partnering with Wonga, the British Library Business & IP Centre and our panel of expert judges, we’ve spent six months investigating businesses across the country to select just 50 that we think will be 'challenger' businesses of the future. What's so impressive is to see young firms challenging established industries with a new, often digital, vision. The Wonga Future 50, published with Real Business, illustrates the dynamic change coursing through our economy.” Errol Damelin, Wonga co-founder and CEO, said: “We decided to create the Wonga Future 50, together with Real Business, to help identify, celebrate and, critically, support the most exciting early-stage UK businesses that are launching new products and services to trigger change. We congratulate all 50 businesses on their vision and ambition.” In August, Endomagnetics announced that it had been awarded government funding to explore the clinical feasibility of applying magnetic sentinel lymph node (SLN) detection to melanoma, a significant cancer with more than 116,000 cases per year in the EU and US alone.
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